Of Monsters and Kings
by Just-a-Try
Summary: In a world full of monsters there are some who have the skills to take them on. However, only a few, are strong enough to kill the kings of the monsters. Judar is one of those few people and he has set his eyes on the strongest king there is. Together with Hakuryuu, he starts his journey to bring down Sinbad.
1. Chapter 1

Now, this is finally the present I've been promising my lovely beta for a while now, as thanks for all her great and hard work and my days of absence and my laziness and my constant questions and complaining about difficult parts of my story. So, big, big thank you for you, Frozen Peaches! Without you, I'd never have the story where it is today.

Alright, aside from that, this is a project that was first intended to be a one shot, then a small story and then it turned into...this. The good news is, it's almost finished and once I have the last chapter done and worked over all the kinks and edges with Frozen Peaches, you guys will get the rest =)

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There was a saying among the common people, about the supernatural creatures that lived in this world, and that was, don't you ever turn your back on them, or you'll find yourself being their dinner.

Many of them preferred solitude, retreating to caves or far away mountains, keeping away from society and people. Some even had the ability to hide their true form behind a thin veil of magic to appear like normal people or animals.

These beings, called monsters by many, are considered dangerous by humans and are hunted by the best, feared by anyone else. Some were so strong and so dangerous, they were called kings.

There was said to be a monster king of beasts, a monster strong enough to command the most vicious of beasts, give their blood thirst a direction and make them follow him into any battle that ever may occur. A king so sharp and fast, that no one could ever stop him or hope to survive his attacks, except for another monster king.

There was said to be a monster king followed by two brothers. A king that kept scrolls and knowledge close, living along the edges of the east, churning up the earth and burning along the skies.

There was said to be a young monster king, barely known enough to be whispered about, but with the power of endless fire in his palms and the heat of lava under his skin, burning and melting all and everything. He was said to still grow, getting stronger with every passing moon, until his fire could swallow up the sun itself.

And finally, there was said to be a monster king so strong, they called him the demon king. He was so powerful; he could rally other monster kings under him. He was rumored to be able to tear apart villages on a whim with the flip of his hand. There were whispers in the night of him moving around in a human form without anyone knowing, killing his enemies before they saw him coming. He was said to be the worst.

Judar knew everything about all of them. He had been attentive in his research and he had pondered over them all. The strongest monsters known, the kings to command over others, too strong for mere mortals.

And then, there were the hunters. Magic wielding people who had devoted themselves to finding ways on either killing or stopping monsters and their kings. On stripping them of their powers or forcing them into human bodies.

A man, it was said, once managed that. Once, so long ago it was a legend now, he was said to climb the highest mountain, to talk to the gods and when he returned, he had found a weapon with which to defeat the wicked monster king that had lived at the time, the strongest of its kind back then.

The legend said that he had trapped the monster king, and, unable to kill him, had forced him into a mortal body, doomed him to fall to sicknesses and grow old, watching the world crawl by until it died.

And the humans, that this victorious man was said to raise, were called hunters. Still, among those hunters, barely a handful was strong enough to measure up to the monster kings. They were called Magi and currently, there were only five of them in this world.

Judar was one of them. And ever since he had been a child, his parents killed by slave traders and him growing up with shackles around his neck, only able to shake them when he discovered his magic, he had decided to confront one of the monster kings. He was determined to take at least one of them down. The worst one, the one that was the strongest. Judar wanted to show, to prove how strong he was. He wanted to make sure that nothing in this world would ever be powerful enough to shackle him down again. What better way to prove that than to defeat the demon that was unrivaled?

The demon king was his choice in the end, which was where his journey with his best friend Hakuryuu started.

Hakuryuu was half-monster, his magically strong mother having lived with a powerful, human looking monster long enough to birth him children that shared half his blood and half hers. He had had three siblings, though only one of them was still alive today. His parents both died too soon along with the two older brothers, leaving the young child alone and hated with his sister.

In the end, Hakuryuu had devoted his hatred and despair about his origin and how he was treated by others on the monsters. It was shortly afterwards, that he had met Judar. Both of them had then turned towards where the demon king was said to be this time of the year.

The fire was crackling to life, once Hakuryuu added a few more twigs and allowed the flames to lick along the dry wood. He leaned back against the rock behind him, warm light flickering over his scarred face.

Judar was staring at the compass in his hand, watching the needle wobble slightly and gently. Finally, he snapped it closed and turned to look at his best friend.

"We should reach the harbor in a day or two." He told the half-monster.

Hakuryuu nodded, cool eyes regarding his friend for a moment. "We'll still take a ship down to the southern countries?"

"That's the plan." Grinning, Judar leaned an arm against his drawn up knee, his whole posture self confident and at ease. "Unless we want to travel two more months on land."

"No thanks." Moving to sit cross-legged, Hakuryuu drew his spear into his lap to sharpen the blade.

"Thought so." Judar hummed to himself for a moment, wondering how it would be to travel on a ship, before he let his head fall back to stare up into the night sky. "I really wonder what it's like to fight and kill a king."

"You say that all the time." Hakuryuu's voice was steady and calm, his movements practiced and for a long moment, Judar simply listened to him, feeling lulled into a sense of comfortable relaxation. His magic hummed under his skin, a gentle, quiet sound that spoke of contentment and warmth.

"Who do you want to hunt afterwards? I mean, after we killed the demon king." He asked, looking at his friend again.

Hakuryuu frowned slightly. "We haven't even found him yet."

Waving his hand lazily, Judar rolled his eyes. "Spoilsport. But seriously, you get to choose. I picked the demon king; you can pick the next one."

Hakuryuu paused, arm outstretched and his fingers just at the edge of the blade. He looked thoughtful, until he glanced up, his blue eyes dark. "Either the fire commanding monster king, or the king in the east."

"Let's throw a coin if you can't decide by then." Judar suggested, stretching out a hand to let his fingertips trail along his spear-like staff. "And don't worry. We're strong enough to take them on."

Hakuryuu just hummed, resuming his work. Once he was done, he handed out their dinner and they settled down for the night. Judar took on the first shift of guard duty and kept his eyes on the sky, his ruby orbs skimming along the stars he could see, picking out the familiar constellations.

The silence of the night descended further, only broken by an owl hooting softly in the distance and the crackle of the fire, a stronger crack coming through now and then when a log broke and sparks flew up.

Judar stretched out his senses, letting magic roll through his veins, prickling at his fingertips. He felt the trees and plants breathe around him, felt the energy flowing through the air and listened to the whispers the wind carried to him.

Nothing and no one dangerous was around. A couple of birds slept in the trees and he could feel a family of rabbits a little deeper in the forest.

Smiling and humming along with the whispers his magic allowed him to hear, Judar barely noticed how the time passed, until Hakuryuu sat up and part of his bangs stuck up on one side.

Judar still found it amusing how the usually not-smiling, serious young man managed to look so disorientated and ruffled after waking up.

"Adorable", He crooned with a grin, when Hakuryuu blinked before he rubbed at his eyes with his wooden arm. Pausing, the warrior gave him a half-hearted, still sleepy glare.

"Shut it and go to sleep." He grumbled. That Hakuryuu sometimes forgot his polite upbringing when he had just woken up, was also something Judar found adorable – though in a funny, snicker-worthy way.

"Yeah yeah princess. Wake me with dawn." Lying down on his rolled out sleeping bag and worming his way inside, Judar stretched out his magic one last time, before he left their safety to Hakuryuu and went to sleep.

His dreams had been similar to each other in the last couple of months. They were very blurry, sometimes mixed in with his time as a slave under a branch of the slave trader guild 'Al-Tharmen'. Mostly though, they consisted of washed together colors, pale or bright, of endless skies and a shifting, smiling darkness.

He always felt the prickle of something incredibly powerful in his dreams, the quiet song of his own magic promising him a possible future. Somehow, and despite never really remembering much after waking up, Judar didn't feel bothered by these dreams.

Tonight was no different, as he fell asleep to the feeling of whispering winds behind his back.

...

"Remind me to never, ever again, get on a ship." Judar groaned, leaning against the railing and trying very hard to keep his head from spinning. He was seasick, though thankfully without throwing up so far.

He felt dizzy and disorientated and more than a bit weak. His appetite was nearly nonexistent and he could sleep whole days away. He also, just a little, hated Hakuryuu for standing beside him unfazed.

"We'll be there soon." His best friend promised, keeping his eyes on the surrounding ocean. The sleeves of his clothes were down and he was wearing a glove over his wooden arm, like always whenever they weren't alone. The arm was just another hint towards his heritage, since it had grown on its own and moved just like a real limb. His gaze though, was sliding far away, his thoughts drawing him into directions Judar felt too unsteady to even think about.

"I hate this." He mumbled to himself. "The damn ocean stinks like a hoard of dead fish, the frigging seagulls won't shut up, the captain yells all the time and I just feel sick." He stumbled slightly to the side and into his friend, who reflexively kept him up. "I hate you for acting like it doesn't affect you."

"It doesn't." Hakuryuu said, not letting him go until Judar found his footing again.

"I hate the food too; it's so horrible, so bland. I hate that everything in this ship creaks and croaks and the wood is wet and god, why didn't we stay on land? Or flied? I could have flown us at least some part of the way." Staring up at the half-monster, the Magi frowned. "Don't you ever smile?"

Hakuryuu seemed faintly and sarcastically amused for a small second. "You ask me that a lot. And if you hate this ship so much, can't you knock yourself out with a spell?"

"I dislike that even more." Judar grumbled, sagging against his friend. "I want to get back on land. God, I hate this."

"You know, I think you may have mentioned that before." Hakuryuu said, with no small amount of dryness and his Judar-you-drive-me-up-the-wall-and-you-know-it voice.

"Have I?"

"Only for the past two weeks we've been on this ship." Hakuryuu deadpanned. "Get back under deck if you hate it out here."

"It smells worse down there!" Leaning against the railing again, Judar lifted his head to feel a fresh breeze brush through his hair. They both paused when they heard the captain yell something across the ship. Shortly afterwards, a sailor was quickly running past them, clearly busy with something.

"Come on, I'll try to cook you something." Hakuryuu murmured, giving Judar's shoulder a short pat.

"I know why you're my favorite." Judar smiled, following the half-monster.

Hakuryuu resisted the urge to roll his eyes. "I'm the only one willing to go along with your madness."

"If I may remind you, half of our plans are made up from your own madness. Talk about the pot calling the kettle back, dearest Hakuryuu."

"Like you're one to talk." Bantering back and forth for a short moment longer, they went back under deck and towards the kitchen. Hakuryuu was quite liked by the chef, who – after taking stock of what food they had – allowed the warrior to fix a small, light meal.

Back in their cabin, Judar nibbled at his food, trying to ignore how the sway of the ship made his stomach queasy and his senses dizzy. Finally, he looked over to his best friend.

"Do you know what I hate the most being on a ship out on the sea?"

Hakuryuu didn't even look up. "Everything?"

"I hate how everything around me is water and wet and I still can't have a bath." He paused. "Aside from the fact that I do hate everything."

Hakuryuu just sighed.

...

No one was happier to get off the ship again than Hakuryuu – mainly because of the Magi. Judar was too dizzy the first half an hour to really celebrate much, but at least his complaining had stopped. He also stumbled around less. But really, it was a relief to be back on even ground again.

Judar was sitting slumped over on one of the rocks of the harbor wall, watching the seagulls – his declared most-hated-bird-ever – flying around, squawking at each other. Hakuryuu allowed his gaze to slide over the sandstone buildings around them, the dusty and sandy streets and the bright colors flashing in different shops along the harbor and the main street.

"The joy of being back on land." Judar finally mumbled, when the dizziness left him and he could feel his feet properly again. "Let's go find something to eat. I could murder for some fresh fruits and meat right now."

"Let me see how much money we still have." Hakuryuu pulled the travel purse from his clothes and pulled the string loose, looking inside. "We can go and buy something, but we have to take on a job sometime soon."

"Eh, it's fine. There are enough monsters around." Jumping down from the rock, Judar stretched. "Let's get away from this smelly harbor okay? I can't stand the stench of fish anymore."

Side by side, they left the docks behind and strolled along the shops of the main street, the sound of rolling waves and squawking birds fading slowly and getting washed away by the sound of conversations around them.

They bought some cooked squids and dry meat along with a couple of peaches, before they looked around for eventual bounties on nearby monsters. An elderly lady was helping them with that in the end.

"Oh yes, we have had trouble with a monster on the cliffs. It hasn't bothered us before, but recently it started tearing our herds apart. Some of the farmers have lost a lot of cattle over the past few weeks."

"What can you tell us about it?" Hakuryuu asked, while Judar messily bit into a peach and lounged back against his staff.

The lady nervously wrung her hands. "It is huge, bigger than a horse and very fast. It has sharp teeth and claws and most of the men that went after it didn't return."

"It probably ate them." Judar said, licking fruit juice from his hand. The lady gasped and Hakuryuu shot his partner a dry, unimpressed look.

"We don't know that. However, there is a bounty on its head, right?" The warrior turned back to the woman.

She nodded. "Yes. The farmers all pitched in together. You bring us the head and we pay you for it."

"Great. Let's get going then." Judar threw the core of the peach away and straightened.

"Just a moment, Judar." Hakuryuu turned towards the woman. "Do you know anything about the demon king?" Hakuryuu asked. The elderly lady bit her lip for a moment, averting her gaze.

"It's…I don't know personally, though there are rumors that he has been roaming around the countries along the sea. I haven't seen head or tail of him and his people, so I can't tell you more."

"I see, thank you. We will be back once we defeated the monster." Bowing his head politely, Hakuryuu turned to leave, his best friend sauntering up to his side. They waited until they were out of earshot, before Judar turned to the half-monster.

"Think she lied?"

"I think she knows more." Hakuryuu frowned slightly. "And that she didn't tell us is worrying. She doesn't look like someone who was swayed by a monster in human form though. She looked…like someone who just wanted to stay out of it, or had a suspicion she didn't want to share."

Rummaging through the bag for another peach, Judar glanced up. "What's your best guess?"

"Either that some strangers came by recently and no one knew for sure if they might be monsters or not, or that she saw something that hinted to a monster passing through or being here." Turning around the corner towards the edge of the harbor town, Hakuryuu sighed. "Either way, I would rather talk to the guards around here. You still have that badge right?"

"Yeah, I still have that dumb hunter-thing." Patting his left pants pocket, Judar bit into his found peach. "They might want to charge something for information trading though."

"We'll do something about that when the time comes." Hakuryuu continued to follow the directions the lady had given them, with Judar following his lead.

After his second peach was done and he licked his fingers clean, the Magi glanced at his friend. "So, about this monster, sounds like one of the dumber ones. Probably can't even really talk and until recently it has been living secluded. Probably not that strong either. Do you want to get a shot at it first?"

Hakuryuu paused and looked at Judar, before he huffed in amusement. "You just don't feel like fighting, do you?"

Sniffing, Judar nodded. "I feel way too lazy right now. So I'll just sit back and let you do the work. Feel free to get blood and goo or whatnot all over you."

"I'm not that much of a messy fighter."

"Please." Waving his hand at his best friend, the Magi grinned. "You always get bloody and you do hack some limbs off with your spear."

Grumbling, Hakuryuu turned around another corner and the buildings around them started to grow smaller, less expensive and decorated, until they left the town through a gate in the wall that surrounded it. Soon they were passing crop-fields and the cliffs started to appear in the distance to their left.

Walking between a field of sunflowers and a cornfield, they reached the part where the cattle had been killed. The earth had been churned up by claws and Judar scrunched up his face when he saw the dried fluid on the ground. Squatting down, he waved his hand, magic sparking for a moment.

"It's from the monster." He said, standing up again. "It's a paralytic fluid, probably works on skin contact, the monster most likely spits it out. It should work fast too, so don't get hit by it."

"I'm not a novice anymore." Hakuryuu said, following the tracks that led towards the cliffs. "Compared to some farmers, I know what I do."

Humming, Judar followed him, keeping his eyes on their surroundings and his magic senses stretched out. When they reached the cliffs, he stretched out a hand to stop his friend.

"It's below us." He murmured, red eyes glowing as he stretched his magic further. "It's waking up, it probably heard us coming. There is nothing alive with it and it's in a cave a couple of feet under us. We should wait for it to come out."

Nodding, Hakuryuu shook off his backpack, throwing it towards Judar. The Magi managed to catch it, grunting slightly, his eyes losing their eerie glow. "Jerk." He mumbled, before he pointed over his shoulder. "I'll be over there. Give me a girly scream if you need me to save your ass."

Expertly waving his spear, as a deep growl started to come up from the cliffs, Hakuryuu scoffed. "I won't need your help."

Shrugging, Judar stepped back, just in time to see a scaly claw appear on the edge of the cliff. A deep, rattling breath was heard as a shadow crept towards them. Judar looked over his shoulder to see something akin to a huge lizard climbing over the cliffs, glowing yellow eyes fixed on Hakuryuu. Dried blood was on its muzzle and a long, thin, healing scratch was on its front leg, probably from one of the people that went after it.

"Yep, those guys were eaten." Judar murmured, keeping his distance as he watched Hakuryuu swiftly attacking the monster. It should be a fast affair though, the monster wasn't very strong.

...

"It's too hot." Judar grumbled, flapping a hand to get some air to his face. They were currently traveling along the edge of a desert, just a couple of miles shy of stepping on sand. Pulling the cloth on his head a little more down, so the sun didn't glare into his eyes, the Magi cast a look around.

"How far is it to the next village?" Hakuryuu asked. He was quieter than usual, the temperature getting to him as well. Both of them weren't exactly made to walk through blistering heat.

"Too far." Judar replied in a flat, exhausted voice. "I'm almost starting to miss that ship."

"No you don't."

"I said almost. But we should see if we can hop on some cart or something in the next village. Walking through the heat is just too exhausting." Judar adjusted his weight on his staff.

Hakuryuu frowned at him. "You aren't even walking."

"Yeah." Dragging out the word, Judar stared down at the hard, stony ground he floated above. "It still is exhausting. And the heat just makes me tired. I want to fall asleep and I hate that." Letting an arm dangle down, Judar looked irked for a moment. "And that damn demon king, can't he ever stop moving around? Just sit tight until we get to him and take his head off."

"At least we know we're close now." Hakuryuu looked back on the beaten path that they followed. "I can feel the power of something really strong and not-human in this land."

Hakuryuu was right. Judar was able to feel it too, like an invisible mist in the air. It was a prickle across his skin and his own magic curled tighter in his veins, humming. Keeping his senses sharp, Judar could feel Hakuryuu with his flowing, inner magic beside him.

The half-monster once had asked him what his magic felt like and Judar had said that it reminded him of life, quietly growing and it sometimes smelled of wood and grass. Whenever the warrior was angry though, it was crackling and growling like a beast on a too short leash, teeth snapping at nothing. Hakuryuu never lost control of his powers, but he also had trouble completely accepting them.

Looking ahead, Judar squinted when he saw blurry forms appearing in the far distance. "Hey, either I am hallucinating or I can actually see buildings ahead."

Hakuryuu lifted his head a bit more and relief shortly flickered across his face. "No, I see it too. Come on, we can get there before sunset."

"Yeah, I'd like to rest in a real bed for once. And to escape the freezing night too, why does it have to be so freaking cold at night in deserts?"

"I don't know. Ask god if you ever meet him." Hakuryuu was walking a little faster now, clearly eager to get to the buildings as soon as possible.

They fell back into silence and moved across the dry, hard ground. The sun wandered along the sky and the shadows started to grow, the light fading into a strong orange. By now the power in the air felt fresher, stronger and Judar felt the hairs in his neck stand up. They must be getting closer. It shouldn't take a long time to finally find the demon king. Or at least a really strong monster that knew more.

The sky was getting darker when they finally were close enough to really see what they walked towards.

Judar gave a suffering groan, slumping on his staff, sliding down to touch his feet back to the ground. "Ruins. Fucking ruins." He grumbled, looking towards Hakuryuu. "If I ever meet god, I'll have a stern talk about false hopes with him."

"You mean you want to kick his ass." Hakuryuu sounded exhausted. "Come on, at least we have some cover against the wind."

They walked towards the ruins, only to stop dead in their tracks when they saw the blood splattered across a fallen wall. Alert, they moved forwards carefully. Exchanging a quick glance, Hakuryuu moved to the right, his spear lifted in front of him.

They followed the blood trail on the ground, seeing where boots had stepped into it and had drawn eerie, dark prints into the ground. Rounding an upright wall, they stopped again.

In front of them was a real battlefield. Broken swords and spears were lying on the ground and between splintered crates, unmoving bodies lied. Judar counted eleven, already knowing that none of them were still alive.

Hakuryuu crouched down bedside a corpse, touching two fingers to the waxy skin. "Cold." He said. "And seeing how the blood is already dried and brown, they weren't killed somewhere in the last hour. Is anyone still around?"

Judar stretched out his senses, letting his glowing gaze sweep around. He couldn't feel anything aside from the power in the air and Hakuryuu beside him. "No. Let's see who they were."

Shuffling around, they started to search the bodies, finding a lot of chains and cuffs and finally, Judar found the mark of a slave trader guild. Disgusted, he shoved the body of the leader out of the way. "Slave traders." He said curtly, throwing the letter he found towards Hakuryuu.

His friend managed to grab the fluttering paper, skimming over the written words. Throwing it aside afterwards, he turned towards the Magi. "Let's see if they have anything useful we can take and leave them here. The desert will take care of their corpses."

They found a bag of dried fruits and meat, stuffing it in their backpacks, along with a small sack of salt and a fist-sized crate of black powder.

"I wonder what killed them." Hakuryuu murmured, looking around the scene. "Their weapons were destroyed and some of them are missing limbs. Do you feel anything?"

Sighing, Judar concentrated on the corpses, touching one of them to see if he could find any traces. He paused, when a light pulse of magic still remained on their wounds. "Nothing human killed this one." He murmured, frowning slightly. "A monster probably came through here."

Hakuryuu seemed tenser for a moment, looking around the ruins. "Can we stay here tonight?"

"It should be fine." Standing up and stretching, Judar tried to brush of the prickle the power in the air caused against his nape. "It looks like the monster was here a little while ago. It shouldn't stick around and it didn't eat these guys, so it probably wasn't interested in them all that much. It had to be pretty smart though, going for the weapons and destroying them. But since it doesn't look like this is a monster lair either and nothing hints to bodies being dragged away…I'd say we're pretty safe."

"Well, you're the official expert on these things." Hakuryuu said, relaxing again. "Let's get away from them though; I don't want to see them."

"Agreed." Sniffing in disgust, Judar left with Hakuryuu to the left end of the ruins. "What do you think this was once?"

"It's old." Hakuryuu brushed a hand against a standing wall of sandstone. "I can't see anything remarkable or any leftover ornaments around here. It probably was a trading post, a resting place for travelers. They relocated some of the trading routes in the past twenty years, so this post was probably abandoned when not enough people came through anymore."

"Boring." Judar sighed, plopping down on a half crumbled wall. "I had at least hoped for something more interesting."

The Magi watched as Hakuryuu got everything for a fire together and then lit the wood with a flick of his fingers, sparks flying up a moment later.

"Keep an eye out." His best friend said. "If the monster is still close enough to see the smoke, I don't want it to come back thinking it left someone alive."

"Sure." Leaning back, Judar watched Hakuryuu prepare a quick, warm dinner. By now the last light started to fade out of the sky and the warmth of the day started to dwindle into a seeping chill.

Judar got their sleeping rolls and blankets out, throwing one blanket towards Hakuryuu so he could wrap it around himself after dishing out their dinner.

They ate in silence; with Hakuryuu staring thoughtfully into the flickering flames and Judar keeping his senses out to see if he could feel anything alive moving towards them. So far though he only found two snakes under a large rock and nothing more.

Once they cleaned up their cooking equipment, Hakuryuu settled down for the night and Judar huddled into his blanket, slipping a little closer to the fire. He stretched out his legs and kicked off the soft shoes he wore for the desert countries and wriggled his feet towards the flames.

They actually had come quite far, ever since they started their journey together. They started at the magic school far up in the north-east, where they met, to the western countries and down to the south. And now they were close to the desert. If it continued this way, maybe Judar even got to see the countries that were completely swallowed up by snow and ice.

Sighing and quietly mourning the fact that he couldn't get to sleep in a bed tonight, Judar stared out into the night. It was almost disturbingly silent out here, so close to the desert and so far away from plants and trees.

The energy was different out here too. The breathing of the plants was more subdued, the whispering winds stronger and the hard earth held its strength together without giving an inch. It sometimes felt like the rushing, forming winds and the unmoving ground collided a little.

Judar wasn't even sure how the desert itself would feel, with the ever moving dunes and how the wind seemed to drag and shape the earth however it pleased, how the heat of the sun was sucked up by the sand and how the ice of the night caused things to freeze.

Closing his eyes for a moment, Judar enjoyed the feel of flickering heat against his feet, when, suddenly, something powerful appeared. It was like the air was punched out of his lungs, as a sharp shiver clawed along his spine and his own magic roared up like a tidal wave.

Within the next breath, he was standing, grabbing up his staff with him. Hakuryuu startled, jumping to his feet, disorientated for a second but ready to fight.

"Judar?" He asked, his voice sharp and low, belying the tenseness he kept out of his body in order to make his movements easy and flowing.

"Something is here, coming." Judar barely finished speaking, when a wall to their right seemed to collapse out of nowhere and a cloud of dust and sand billowed up.

Hakuryuu circled around the fire, easily kicking his spear up into his hands and they saw a moving figure in the dust, waving the dirt cloud away. A dry cough was heard and then someone stepped forward.

The person – no, monster, Judar realized – moved into the light of their fire and for a second, Judar forgot to breathe again. The monster in front of them was tall, with flowing, feathery dark hair and tanned skin. He had the body of a human, though his hands ended in sharp claws and his eyes were a glowing gold, pupils pitch-black and slit like a cats.

He moved with the grace and silence of the wind, black feathers ruffling along his arms and dark marks flowed down his chest.

Judar knew who he was, how could he not. He had devoted hours of research to the monsters he wanted to hunt. This, in front of him, was the demon king.

The king paused when he saw them, looking them up and down. "You are no slave traders." He said and his voice sounded warmer than Judar had expected. He had expected to hear the hissing of a lizard in his words or an animalistic rumble or the odd echo of a draconid. He hadn't expected to hear a completely human sounding voice.

The golden eyes however, lost none of their cutting sharpness, like a predator deciding what to do with a really interesting batch of prey. Then, the demon king's gaze snapped to Judar and his body stilled.

"A Magi." He breathed, like he barely could believe it, quickly, he looked at Hakuryuu. "And a half-child. Interesting."

Hakuryuu's eyes darkened and he tightened the grip on his spear, wooden hand giving a very slight, very gentle creak. Judar finally found his breath again, ripping his mind away from the sheer power that had crushed down on his shoulders and seemed to steal any air from their surroundings. He wondered if Hakuryuu could possibly feel the same amount of sheer magic that the demon king practically oozed all over the place.

"Well, you sure made our job easy." Judar said, grinning and stepping forward. Stiffness seemed to fall out of his joints with that movement and he lifted his staff. "We came to kill you."

The demon king's shoulders lowered slightly and he looked at them. "Really? How unfortunate." He took a step to the side, only to rear back when Hakuryuu jumped forwards, swinging his spear in a perfect arc.

Judar had moved at the same time, magic rumbling under his skin and he felt the beat of his heart in his ears. Whispering under his breath, he started to draw all the humidity in the air towards him, sending a fire spell towards the demon king in the next second.

The demon king dodged them, lightly moving out of the way. A moment later, he was floating up a little, tilting his head in a thoughtful manner, only to jump back to the ground when Hakuryuu was on him once again.

Ducking between the spear's blade and a blast of energy from the Magi, he frowned, clawed hands twitching. Judar knew they had to step up their game if they wanted to get the king before he decided what to do.

Moving closer to Hakuryuu, they attacked in tandem, forcing the demon king back until he found his back to a set of walls. Without pausing, the demon king leaped up, easily coming to stand on the walls. And in a placating gesture, he held up his hands.

"Now, now, I'm sure we can talk about this?" Lighting fast, Hakuryuu drew a slim knife out of his boots, throwing it up in a practiced flick of his wrists.

The demon king caught it between two fingers, sighing, while Judar used the moment he looked away to create a mirage of his person, slipping away in the churned up dust and into the darkness between the ruins.

Hakuryuu barely acknowledged his friend leaving, jumping up high to bring the spear down in a powerful motion. Frowning, the king's hand snapped up, catching the blade. For a split second, Hakuryuu grinned, when the blade started to glow, coated in magic.

In the next second, the claws of the king crushed the blade, grabbing onto the shattered weapon to hurl Hakuryuu against the next wall. The impact caused the young man to lose his breath, his vision disappearing for a second. In the next, he found himself lying on his back, the demon king standing over him, one bare foot firmly on his wooden arm.

His golden eyes blazed. "I'd advise you to stop now."

The king twitched back when Judar's mirage lunged at him, his clawed hand slicing through the image and shattering it. At the same time, the skin of his arm was coated in ice, freezing his movements and chilling him down to the bone.

Jumping back, the king barely avoided the spear of ice that embedded itself into the ground. Looking up, he found Judar floating in the air, staff poised and eyes glowing red. In a graceful jump, the demon king was up in the air as well, hair floating around him.

"Let's finish this." He lifted the arm that wasn't frozen, only to find roots shooting up, wrapping around it and trying to pull him away. A glance down revealed Hakuryuu, standing and with his wooden arm stretched out.

Looking back at the Magi, while the plants crawled further up his body, the demon king smiled, revealing sharp teeth. He slowly breathed in deep and Judar had to force himself not to recoil when he felt the power around him rocket up another notch.

Judar lifted his staff, ice forming around him, dancing in dangerous spears and cutting blades. He kept his magic barrier up at full power and charged forward.

The Magi collided with the demon king, ice shattering and reforming around him, crashing the king into the ground. He felt something sharp swipe at his side, felt his clothes ripping and he jumped back, getting caught by Hakuryuu.

They stood; tense, as they watched the dust settle down. Finally, they could see the demon king in the flickering flames of their campfire, incased completely in ice and vines and roots, the plants partly growing out of the ice to embed themselves into the ground.

Catching his breath, Judar lifted his staff in front of him again, chanting a spell under his breath. The ice cracked and shattered just as he finished and he lifted the spear – only to feel a hand around his throat, ripping him from his feet.

Judar barely felt the air rush past him as he slammed against a wall, the sandstone crumbling and it felt like all bones in his body rattled. A crash beside him caused him to look up, dizzily seeing Hakuryuu lying on the ground.

Then the king was walking towards them, wind picking up until a storm raged around the ruins, almost knocking them down again, as they stood up. Hakuryuu drew the dagger he kept on his person, eyes dark and raging.

Judar felt his own magic growl in him and he held on to his staff, letting it out. Magic collided and exploded all around them, as they confronted the demon king again.

The stone-walls around them shattered, crushed by the power in the air and Judar moved fast, appearing behind the king, while Hakuryuu attacked his side. They exchanged blows, a flurry of movement and spells left his lips, flowing like a stream, pulling power from his body and around him.

He managed to cut the demon king, feeling the magic around them spike, his blood singing in his ears, his body moving lighting quick, riding along the pull of power and magic and roaring winds around them.

Then something broke, like a slice through air and sound and he found himself falling back, eyes wide. The king's claws caught his collar, hurling him around and crashing him into the ground, so strongly, that Judar felt himself blacking out.

When he regained consciousness, his whole body felt numb and heavy and everything hurt. He managed to open his eyes, his head spinning. The demon king stood in the middle of the destroyed ruins, taking in a deep breath.

Then he looked towards the Magi. "I see now why they say you people can kill us." He walked closer, eyeing the young man. "If you had time to grow stronger, get more skills, sharpen the ones you already have…yeah, I can see you killing us. You know, I haven't met a Magi in a long time, let alone one that fought me straight off the bat."

Judar tried to move, but he couldn't feel his hands or legs and a quiet groan escaped him. The king paused and then stopped. "I won't kill you. Or your friend." He smiled, though Judar only wanted to punch his face in. "It's, frankly, a waste of talent." Turning, he waved over his shoulder. "Until we meet again."

Then he was gone.

Judar was lying in the dark, the fire flickering somewhere to his far left and he finally felt the control of his body prickling back alive. Rolling to his side and sitting up, he pressed an aching hand against his spinning head.

"You okay?" The Magi called into the dark, where he could hear Hakuryuu breathing.

A scraping sound told him his friend had managed to move as well. "Everything hurts, but I don't think I broke anything. And aside from a few scratches, I'm not bleeding either. You?"

"Good, I suck at healing spells. And I'm fine, the same as you I guess." Aside from the fact that it was ages ago that Judar had exhausted himself so much in such a short amount of time. His limbs felt weak and though his magic was far from depleted, it was still clear that all the spells had taken a toll on his body. He would have a muscle ache from hell tomorrow.

Standing up, Judar picked up his staff and slowly moved towards the fire. Hakuryuu did the same, picking up his broken spear and dagger.

Flapping a hand at his friend, Judar waved him over. "Give me your stuff, I'll fix it."

Hakuryuu frowned slightly. "Do you have enough energy for that?"

Judar snorted. "Please. Besides, those dumb spells were a pain in the ass to learn, so just let me use them."

The half-monster handed over the weapons and Judar mumbled a few words, brushing his fingertips along the broken parts, fixing them back up. "All done and shiny new."

Hakuryuu mumbled his thanks, gingerly sitting down by the fire. Both of them swayed while sitting for a moment, silence stretching between them.

"He's strong." Hakuryuu finally said, voice and eyes dark.

"We'll get him." Judar felt no less pissed off at their loss. "He'll regret it that he didn't kill us when he had the chance."

For another long moment, they sat in silence, feeling dizzy and hurting before they both grabbed their sleeping bags.

"Let's fuck guard duty. I'll bite someone's head off if I can't sleep the rest of the night." Judar grumbled. Hakuryuu sighed.

"I doubt after the demon king throwing his power all over the place, that any other monster would dare to come closer right now." Hakuryuu laid down and the Magi did the same. They didn't say anything else, just moving so that their backs were close to each other.

They stared off into the darkness of the night, complete silence all around them. Judar swept his senses one last time over their surroundings. Nothing. Even the prickle of power had faded into a quiet, lazy hum. It probably would disappear by sunrise. The demon king was gone; there was no better way to describe the fading magic in the air.


	2. Chapter 2

I'm very sorry for the horribly long wait! Here is the next part of the story, I hope you'll like it! Again, thanks for FrozenPeaches for being patient while I dropped off grid for a while and generally am a slow-poke at updating.

* * *

Judar felt lazy and warm, the aches of traveling and losing against the demon king finally melting out of his body. Sighing in bliss, he slid lower into the hot water. "I'm never, ever getting out of here."

Hakuryuu gave a non committing hum, lying at the other end of the hot water pool, his head lolled back. Both had their eyes closed and just enjoyed a good, long soak.

"Why did I want to hunt monsters again?" Judar mumbled into the steaming room.

"Good question. When I asked you, you just said: 'Because I can'. Why do you hunt them?"

Judar grinned. "Cause I can." He heard Hakuryuu huff quietly in amusement. "But, honestly, I'm strong enough to. I can do what I want." Judar opened his eyes to stare up at the ceiling. "If I want to hunt them, I can. If I want to stop, I'll do that. If I want to buy an entire castle –"

"You'd have to steal the money for it, we don't earn enough."

"Spoilsport." Judar stretched out a bit more in the water, feeling the smooth tiles beneath his skin. His neck and arms felt oddly light and bare without the golden jewelry and when he looked down, he could see the old, silvery scars that the shackles from his time as a slave had left behind. "I think I just want to fight." He murmured, moving the fingers of one hand. "And the monster kings are the strongest, so why not fight them?"

Hakuryuu let his head fall sideways to look at his friend. "You know, it doesn't really matter to me. I want to see them dead either way."

The Magi smirked. "Aren't we the perfect team? Oh, by the way, is your butt bruised to hell from fighting too?"

Hakuryuu's expression became slightly sour. "Don't even go there. I'm bruised _everywhere_."

Judar snickered, only for the sound to slide into a groan. "Man, I really have to study up on healing spells. If we end up like this when we kill that stupid king, we're going to need them."

"Agreed. Start studying." Hakuryuu sounded a little bit more tired now and when Judar looked over, he saw that his friend had his eyes half closed.

"Yeah, later." The Magi mumbled, feeling how he slid a little deeper into the water. He could just about fall asleep.

Of course, this was the exact second, where another patron of the establishment they stayed in, decided to enter the hot baths, though he thankfully picked a different end of the pool to get into.

Hakuryuu was back to full awareness again, shifting his body slightly to one side to let his wooden arm dip completely under water. The steam was making it difficult to see details in the large room, but if someone looked at the half-monster, they would still be able to see the arm.

"Let's get out." Judar sighed, standing up and grabbing two towels. Acting a little as a shield, he threw the towel at Hakuryuu, once his friend had stood up again.

Keeping an eye on the other man – and really, it was very late, they should have been the only ones in here – they roughly dried themselves off and left the room again to go and get dressed, before they went up to the room they had rented for the next two days.

Silence hung between them, when they settled down. Hakuryuu checked his weapons and Judar looked over the scrolls he had taken with him.

When things got suspiciously quiet, the Magi looked up, only to see his best friend asleep already, in an awkward, half sitting position.

Stretching out his legs, Judar leaned back against the pillows on his own bed and in the waning light of the candle beside him, he felt himself falling asleep as well.

* * *

"We're close." Judar murmured, feeling the familiar prickle of power sneaking along his spine, breathing it in around him. Still, one thing stayed unchanged. It was the vast ocean stretching out in front of them.

"Do we have to take a ship?" Hakuryuu asked, eyeing the gentle waves and slightly squinting in hopes of seeing farther. "Is he out there?"

"He has to be." Judar grumbled, pulling a disgusted face. "And like hell I'll step on a ship just to aimlessly float around in hopes of finding this dumb king." He gripped his staff a little tighter. "I'm going to fly."

Hakuryuu made an understanding sound and then sighed. "I don't know, shouldn't we wait until he comes back to land? If we fight him on open water, we have a disadvantage." He gestured slightly between them. "Since, you know, none of us can breathe under water."

"He shouldn't be able to do that either, I think." Judar shrugged. "But if you're that worried, here." He murmured something under his breath, waving over Hakuryuu's head. "There you go, now when you fall into the water, a bubble of air will be around you. But the spell won't last longer than a few hours."

His friend nodded, ignoring the familiar tickle of Judar's magic against his own. "Let's go then."

Floating up, Judar sat comfortably on his staff and waited for Hakuryuu to tap into his own magic, before they moved over the waves. Still, they wouldn't get too far, since they didn't know when the next island or dry land would appear.

They barely got a mile far, before the ocean around them erupted into a giant wave, water spraying everywhere. A second later, a loud crack resounded through the air and the water stopped moving, turning to ice, sharp and jagged pieces reaching up into the sky where the wave had splashed up.

Judar had stopped, with Hakuryuu at his side and he felt the coldness the ice emitted before he felt the power rocket up around them, as a crashing bolt of thunder split the ice apart and the demon king surfaced – it was the demon king, even if he looked very different.

Blue scales stretched over his arms instead of tanned skin, looking like armor and his teeth seemed sharper, when he pulled himself up on a piece of ice, baring them in a grimace. His hair was a striking blue now, with thunder-like horns sticking up, though the golden eyes and his face still were the same. His claws were more prominent now and a long tail flicked up once he got his feet on the ice.

Shaking wet strands out of his face, the king paused and looked up, jumping back when Judar flicked his hand at him with a spell, destroying the ice in an instant. Wobbling slightly on a different patch of ice, the king quickly held up his hands.

"Wait, just a moment –" He never got to finish when suddenly the ocean rose around them and a huge head broke through the water. Barely avoiding a set of sharp teeth, Judar and Hakuryuu moved back and out of range, watching as the king jumped into the air, flicking water from his skin.

"What is that thing?" Hakuryuu asked; voice tight as he stared at the monster that rose out of the waves.

It faintly resembled a dragon, though it was way too ugly to be one and its two heads swiveled around to stare at them, pale grayish eyes eerily blank.

"Oh, that's my fault; I kind of woke it up." The demon king said, apologetically lifting his hand, though his smile was anything but repentant.

Before Judar or Hakuryuu could react, the king already flung himself forward, sharp claws catching against the top of the monsters head, holding on and digging into the slippery scales.

The monster roared; a deafening, shaking sound that made Judar lose sense of his body for a moment and caused waves to clash up. It tried to snap against the demon king with its other head, only to fall backwards into the water.

Tense silence settled when the waves started to calm and Judar could feel the prickle and hum of power weakened, fading enough that he could sense the sea monster's strength meshed against it.

"If he actually get's fucking drowned by that thing, I'm going to laugh my ass off." Judar said, though his voice was dark. They stared down at the ocean, until, all of a sudden, the water lit up with a bright light.

A moment later, the sea monster surfaced again, though it fell sideways, floating unmoving on the water. The demon king showed up a second after that, climbing on the body and pushing wet hair out of his face. Then he looked up.

"Oh, you guys are still –"

Judar didn't give him a chance to finish speaking, already attacking him. Hakuryuu was with him a second later and the ocean rose around them in a strong wave, when they managed to push the demon king back into the water, magic crackling around them.

A rumble of thunder sounded faintly above them, barely a warning before lightning struck down, zipping through the waves and scorching the corpse of the sea monster. Judar and Hakuryuu barely avoided getting hit as well, floating back into the air.

"Did the idiot hit himself?" Judar asked, before he felt his back stiffening, magic brushing up like a cold breeze.

"No." He whirled around, when he heard the king's voice, only to see a blue scaled foot coming up, kicking him in the side and throwing him straight down into the water.

The ocean, to Judar's surprise, was cold and when he hit the surface, any and all sound seemed to disappear; only his racing heartbeat was left, as he felt the drag of water, pulling him deeper and his clothes weighting him down.

Gripping his staff tighter, he performed a soundless spell, crashing back to the surface, gasping for air and feeling another wave splashing over his head, before he could blink the saltwater out of his eyes and look up.

The first thing he noticed, was that neither Hakuryuu nor the demon king were anywhere to be seen. Cursing, he stretched out his senses and found Hakuryuu in the water as well, swimming back up. The king however, was gone and only the residue crackle of magic charged the air, slowly fading.

With a gasp, Hakuryuu broke through the surface a moment later, roughly pushing wet hair out of his face. He met Judar's gaze before looking around, realizing the demon king was gone.

"Damn." Hakuryuu cursed, before he took in a deep breath. "I lost my spear."

"I'm not diving down to get it." Judar scoffed. "Just buy a new one."

Hakuryuu peered down, seemingly contemplating to dive into the waves again and making use of Judar's spell, before he sighed. "Let's get out of here."

They used their magic to heave themselves out of the ocean and Judar took a moment to wring his hair out, as he sat down on his staff. Hakuryuu joined him, nimbly climbing onto the staff as well and wringing water out of his clothes.

"Hey, there is one thing I have been wondering about." Judar poked against Hakuryuu's wooden arm. "Would that thing keep you afloat?"

Hakuryuu rolled his eyes. "Judar, fly us out of here."

"Pushy, aren't we?" Judar grinned at his friend, shoving him lightly and getting a shove in return, before he started flying them back towards the land.

Hakuryuu frowned slightly. "Why did he look different from last time?"

Judar mulled that over for a moment. "It is said that monsters can take the form of the sort of magic they learned first. It could be that he is able to manipulate more than one element." He felt a dark expression come over his face. "It would explain why he is so strong."

"Do you think he's able to use more than lightning and wind?"

Judar nodded. "The ice, before he surfaced, it was from him. But it doesn't matter in the end. He could switch around between all the elements, once he uses up his strength; it's not going to do him any good."

Hakuryuu looked thoughtful, while he shook some water out of his shoes.

Judar smirked darkly and poked his friend's ticklish spot, watching him jump slightly. "Next time, we'll kick that idiot-king's ass."

Hakuryuu huffed out a breath, meeting the Magi's eyes. "We will, definitely."

If they hadn't been on the warpath before, they sure as hell were now.

* * *

"Why, why by the fucking Rukh, why a snow mountain?" Judar stared up at the rising mountain in front of them, turning rocky and stony terrain into sharp cliffs and rocks, a few knaggy, thin trees growing in-between. Soon, the dark earth and gray stones turned into thick, white snow and glistening ice. "After two months of chasing his stupid ass, this is where we find him?"

"At least it's not the ocean this time." Hakuryuu said, already unpacking a warm coat and putting it at the top of his backpack, getting ready to trek up the mountain. "Besides, as far as I know, your favorite magic is ice-magic, right?"

"Doesn't mean I want to freeze off my nose." Judar mumbled, hatefully staring up. "I bet he's doing that on purpose. He just wants to watch us suffer all the way up before flicking stones at us and running off like the last time."

"Well, you should be able to annoy him into wanting to kill you at some point so he should start fighting us for real sooner or later." Hakuryuu looked over his new spear one last time, making sure it was in perfect condition.

"Gee, thanks." The Magi tilted his head thoughtfully. "Hey, do you think we could lure him down somehow?"

"How?" Hakuryuu looked at his friend. "I'm not sure what could be interesting enough for him to come to us. Especially since he knows we are after his head."

"I hate it when you're right about something." Pulling an annoyed face for a moment, Judar finally came to terms with the long walk up the mountain. "I'm going to fly." He declared. Because no matter if he had – more or less – well defined muscles, he actually wasn't physically strong – he'd never forget how he lost to a girl in arm wrestling back at the hunter academy.

"That's fine with me." Hakuryuu shouldered his backpack and started to walk up the trail leading between the rocks and thin, but strong looking trees.

"Of course." Judar mumbled. "His half-blood makes it possible for him to lift damn tree trunks and boulders after all. Show-off."

"I can hear you, you know."

Judar waited until Hakuryuu looked over his shoulder at him to stick out his tongue.

They moved up until the sun started to set and they reached the first line of snow, when they felt a spike of power and a moment later, they saw a small, blurry figure take off from somewhere on the mountain, flying off into the distance.

"Want to chase him?" Hakuryuu asked, staring after the demon king.

"He's too fast." Judar paused. "Wait, do we have to climb down the fucking mountain again? Are you kidding me?"

Sighing, Hakuryuu turned to make dinner. "Looks like it. Unless we decide to fly too."

Kicking a stone, Judar glared at it as if it personally had offended everything he stood for – which still wasn't much, though it didn't change the fact that he was a prideful guy. "I hate him." He finally said.

Hakuryuu just made an agreeing sound, cutting up some vegetables. Judar walked over to him, frowning and sitting down beside his friend. "I hate carrots too."

Hakuryuu threw the carrots into their dinner. Judar grumbled and kicked another stone.

* * *

Judar remembered that they had traveled through the grass-lands, leaving snows and mountains – and especially snow mountains – behind them by a long stretch when…when something had happened.

Groaning, he tried to move his head, only to feel acute pain pulsing through his skull and nausea was making his stomach flip. He almost threw up, only avoiding it by taking shallow breaths until it passed. When he tried to move his arms, he realized they were tied behind his back.

That woke the rest of him up and he forced his eyes open, blinking to get the blurry, dark room into focus. Slow breathing beside him caused him to carefully turn his head, seeing Hakuryuu lay on his side, a trickle of blood running down his temple. The half-monster looked pale and unconscious.

"Hey." Judar tried to speak, only to wince when his throat hurt and his tongue felt thick and swollen. The room already started to spin and blur again. A low, dark groan to his other side, caused the Magi to perk up slightly, very carefully allowing his head to move, though he still felt dizzy and nauseated with just doing that. The pain pulsing behind his eyes grew stronger.

He paused, when he saw the monster slumped over in the corner, bound by magic induced chains. Judar sadly couldn't really feel anything with his magic; his senses were way too out of whack to notice anything other than his own pain and disturbing, dizzying nausea.

Blinking, he took in the monster's silver hair and tanned skin. Blood was dried on its back and it breathed shallowly and just a little quicker, giving Judar the impression that it was awake.

"Hey." He tried again, feeling as though sandpaper moved through his throat. His voice was a little louder this time, causing the monster to twitch.

The monster allowed its head to loll to the side, showing a surprisingly human looking face and emerald green eyes. Though when it – he, the monster looked male, now that he took a closer look – he opened his mouth, sharp fangs were visible.

"Hey." The monster croaked back, sounding just as horrible as Judar felt.

"What …" The Magi tried, only for his voice to crack and give way. The monster shook his head.

"Drugs, keeping us out of it." He sounded breathless when he talked, pain lacing into his words. "Al-Tharmen got us." He said it as if that explained everything – and horribly sadly, it did.

Judar allowed his heavy eyelids to drop and for a few very long moments, he just breathed, feeling the cold, hard ground under his body. The only comfort was that as soon as the drugs wore off, he could get out of here. Right now his head was spinning too much to really think and he couldn't remember the proper, right spells. His magic felt far away too.

Still, when he heard Hakuryuu move and groan some time later, he felt relief course through him, opening his eyes to watch his friend wake up.

Hakuryuu looked like he was drugged out of his mind, blearily staring at Judar, his face slack and expressionless, pupils blown wide and unfocused. He managed a couple of sounds that sounded distantly curious and confused, before the half-monster closed his eyes again.

Judar did the same, falling asleep shortly afterwards. There was nothing else he could do right now anyway.

He jolted awake again, when a loud, crashing sound cut through the air and muffled screams reached the closed door of their room. Judar instinctively tried to sit up, only for his body to twitch, pain to consume his head and he again barely avoided throwing up.

Breathing harder than before, Judar heard something splinter and break open, a door banging against a wall. Opening his eyes, he watched a blurry figure stalking into the room, blue skin and something sparking along unclear hands.

The person paused and Judar blinked, as his vision finally cleared. Under other circumstances, he would have laughed with irony, when he saw the demon king sweeping a glance over him and his friend, before the king already moved to the slumped over monster in the corner.

"Sharrkan?" Kneeling down, the demon king tipped the monster's head up in a careful movement. "Can you stand?"

The monster blinked. "No, I'm too drugged." He rasped out, his head lolling forward again when the demon king let him go.

"Masrur." The king called over his shoulder, another monster entered the room in silent, long strides. Muscles moved under tanned skin and red hair seemed to stand on end, when a flicker of thunder moved across the monster's skin.

"Please take Sharrkan out with you." The demon king stood up, when the red-haired monster moved to lift his companion up, mindful of the injury. They left the room, with the demon king holding the door open, only for the king to pause.

Then he walked over towards Judar and Hakuryuu and the Magi felt like spitting insults at him, only to find that his throat didn't work quite as well and everything just hurt.

The king kneeled down beside the Magi, carefully moving him and Judar knew he blacked out after a spike of pain raced through his head.

When he woke up again, he was lying on a soft, comfortable bed with a wooden ceiling above him. The air smelled strongly of herbs and soap.

Judar carefully moved his head, realizing that it didn't hurt anymore and he didn't feel dizzy either. Just exhausted and heavy. Taking a look around, Judar realized where he was – with Hakuryuu lying in a bed beside him, looking healthier than last time.

He was in a healing house.

Slowly, with a groan, he sat up, leaning against the headboard for a moment. On a small table beside his bed, he saw a cup of water and reached out to carefully drink a few sips, washing away the bitter taste in his mouth.

His memories were fuzzy, but clearing. He remembered now, that he had been at this town festival with Hakuryuu and someone had passed around free drinks for everyone. Judar had gotten his mug from this stranger, already slightly tipsy and he had tasted that something was slightly off with this drink…and then everything went blurry and he remembered waking up bound in that room.

Hakuryuu suddenly breathed in a little deeper and slowly opened his eyes. His skin looked better, not quite as pale and the injury at his temple was healed. The half-monster looked around before his gaze settled on Judar.

"What…" They both winced for a moment when Hakuryuu's voice cracked and gave out. Swinging his legs out of the bed, Judar felt a little more awake and moved his heavy limbs to hand the cup of water to Hakuryuu.

His friend sipped a bit of water, before he attempted to speak again. "What happened?"

"What do you remember?" Judar had pieced together everything he remembered so far – and he didn't like it all one bit.

Hakuryuu frowned, slowly sitting up a bit more and lifting a hand to carefully touch his temple. "I was knocked out I think. You were stumbling around that festival and you weren't that drunk, I knew that and…I don't really know anything afterwards."

"We were caught by some slave traders, have been in a room along with a monster the demon king knows or something, the damn king showed up, probably mincing every bastard into stripped meat – not that I'm complaining about that part – and…apparently brought us here." He grimaced. "A thought that I hate, by the way."

Hakuryuu stared at him, before placing a hand over his eyes for a moment. "I don't feel awake enough yet to properly process that."

Yeah, Judar kind of felt the same way. He sniffed slightly. "Well, that doesn't mean we're going to stop hunting him though."

They were quiet before the Magi looked at his friend, face serious. "I would have gotten us out of there either way."

Hakuryuu met his gaze, not a single shred of doubt in his eyes. "I know."


	3. Chapter 3

**My thanks go to Frozen Peaches, who once again corrected this chapter and goes along with my whims and my tendency to take hellishly long to get anything done. My thanks also goes to you guys, I'm very happy you like this story so far and it's making me determined and encouraged to keep working on it, so credits go to you as well =)**

 **I really hope you guys enjoy this chapter!**

* * *

"Hey, doesn't your sister live somewhere around here?" Judar asked, looking around the vast grasslands they were traveling through.

Hakuryuu nodded. "Close to the eastern border where the mountains begin. That's at least where she said she lives now in one of her last letters."

Judar snickered. "It's so cute that you exchange letters."

Hakuryuu just gave him an unimpressed look. "Why do you ask though?"

Judar shrugged. "I thought we could drop by, if we get closer to where she lives. I mean, when else do we get the chance to a free meal?"

His friend suddenly coughed, like he almost swallowed his own spit. "You don't want to eat her cooking, trust me. You'd die."

"Then you cook. Point is: free food." Judar shrugged, ignoring the thoughtful side-glance he got from Hakuryuu. Because yes, maybe he had brought that idea up so that his friend could see his older sister again – especially since he knew that the half-monster loved her and worried about her.

"Why not, she would be happy to see us." Hakuryuu said after a moment. "We'd have to slightly alter our course though. And it would cost us a couple of additional days."

"I don't mind." Judar stretched a little while walking, making a point of looking nonchalant.

"Okay." And with that, their decision was made.

Over the next two weeks, they followed a couple of trails, talked to townspeople, killed some monsters – two which attacked a caravan, and the guy leading it gave them a lift and some food as thanks – until they came close to the village Hakuei was staying in.

Lifting his hand to shield his eyes from the afternoon sun, Judar straightened to see better. "We're here, aren't we?"

"Yes, Hakuei said she lives somewhere on the more southern edge of the city, and that everyone knows her, so we can also just ask around." Hakuryuu looked a little lighter, at the prospect of meeting his sister, happier and relaxed even.

"The villagers accept her?" Judar asked, side-eyeing his friend. He didn't know a lot about the things that Hakuryuu went through, but the old scars he had seen on the half-monster told enough.

His friend seemed to stiffen a little at his question. "It seems so, yes. She said there were some differences in the beginning, but she's welcome now."

"Differences?" Judar knew what that meant; that there was a possibility for things to escalate, even if Hakuryuu usually was sensible enough to avoid confrontation with villages. Or guards and soldiers. If anything, between the two of them, Judar was the one getting into trouble with others the most.

Hakuryuu sighed. "She didn't tell me much, just that I shouldn't worry." He frowned slightly. "I know she's strong, but she's also too kind I think."

"Well, there is no better way to find out than to go there, right?"

His friend nodded and they walked a little faster. Soon, they reached the village, some of its inhabitants casting them odd looks. It was clear, that lone strangers usually didn't show up this far out in the grasslands – if strangers showed up at all.

They didn't get very far, before a young man stepped in front of them, dressed in the colors and clothes of his people. He looked kind, though he also eyed them carefully.

"Welcome to our village. Can I help you with anything?" He asked.

Hakuryuu nodded. "You could, thank you. I want to visit my sister, Hakuei."

At the mentioning of her, the face of the villager practically transformed into a friendly smile, body language relaxing. "You must be Hakuryuu, lady Hakuei has told us a bit about you. Come, she's with the horses right now."

Judar blinked, a little baffled when he heard how respectful the man talked about the half-monster. That was so rare. He could count the times he had witnessed others treated half-monsters as equals on one hand.

Hakuryuu though relaxed as well, a subtle tension seeping out of his body. The Magi himself felt like leaning back. Things were obviously fine here; they shouldn't meet any trouble for no reason.

They followed the man to the end of the village, where horses were grazing and Judar – despite never meeting her – could see who Hakuei was right away. For one, she was the only one with pitch-black hair present and when she turned around…yeah, she had the same eyes as Hakuryuu.

Once she saw her brother, her already kind and gentle face lit up in a beautiful smile – the small scar on her cheek didn't even matter. Judar suddenly had no trouble believing that the villagers really and truly liked her. And if her personality added up to her looks, well, she was just really lovely – especially compared to grumpy pants Hakuryuu.

"Hakuryuu, it's so nice to see you again!" She quickly walked up to them, grasping her brother's hands in her own, smiling at him before she looked at Judar. "And who is your friend?"

"I'm Judar." The Magi gave her a wave in greeting and recognition lit up in her eyes.

"Oh yes, I remember, Hakuryuu told me about you in our letters. How are you? I hope you didn't have any trouble coming here."

"No, we had no trouble." Hakuryuu said.

Judar snorted. "Aside from the moment where this huge earth worm tried to eat us. But yeah, it was a piece of cake." He smiled innocently when his friend shot him a dry look.

Hakuei just smiled. "Well, I'm glad you're fine. Come on, I'll show you my home and you can rest a bit. Oh, I could –"

"If you don't mind, I'd like to cook." Hakuryuu smoothly spoke up, intercepting her in a way that wasn't hurried, obtrusive or disrespectful. "There is a new dish I wanted to try before, but with traveling all the time I couldn't sit down properly for it."

"Of course, feel free to use anything I have." Hakuei led them to her home, a nice, small house with handmade, wooden furniture. All in all, her home gave off a warm, comfortable feeling. While Hakuryuu started to cook, she brought them something to drink and talked a little about the people here.

"It's really good for me here. A little quiet sometimes, but the villagers have started to become something like a family for me." She looked at her brother, something quiet and sad in her eyes. "You could stay here too."

Hakuryuu glanced over his shoulder, the same cool, guarded expression in his eyes that he always got when someone touched a sensitive subject. It was softer than usual, but still there. "No thank you, sister. I like traveling."

She smiled with understanding, but the sadness didn't leave her eyes. Then something wistful entered her face. "I sometimes miss it too. The lands are so vast around here, endless even. I have seen a lot on my way here and maybe I'll start with small trips again. I miss discovering new things."

Judar leaned back, sipping his drink and half-listening to the siblings. Hakuei and Hakuryuu started to exchange a few stories, locations they knew about and monsters they had encountered. The Magi lazily stretched out his senses, feeling the siblings and the warm hum of life from the villagers and animals all around. Hakuei's magic was different from her brothers, lighter and airy, like a feather in the wind. He wondered what she would feel like when angered or while fighting.

Looking at her, Judar couldn't see a single thing that hinted at her heritage. She looked completely and utterly human. Maybe that helped the villagers in accepting her? Hakuryuu probably would have it easier too, if it weren't for his arm – and the lighter colored eye. His friend told him that he hadn't been able to see with that eye for a little while when he had been young, until an old magician had healed it, though the color had never changed back to normal.

When the food was ready, they sat down to eat and Judar told Hakuei how they met and how they had almost gotten buried in a cave on their first monster hunt. Hakuei herself told them a bit about their childhood and Judar discovered that Hakuryuu had always been this serious ever since his parents and brothers died. The treatment they had gotten for being half-monsters probably hadn't helped either.

They stayed a couple of days, spending time with Hakuei, who showed them around the village, introduced them to other people and took them horse riding. The lands really were beautiful around here and so far, one could think they were the only ones living between the borders of the neighboring countries.

On their last day though, just when they got ready to leave again, Judar felt the faint hint of magic seeping through the air. It was like the far away waves of something powerful, lapping at his consciousness.

Staring at the horizon, Judar stood completely still, senses alert and eyes eerily glowing as he stretched his own magic out. Hakuryuu looked at him and immediately looked around as well, body language changing to highly alert and he subtly adjusted his grip on his spear.

"Is something the matter?" Hakuei sounded a little confused and she looked around as well.

"Something is coming." Judar tilted his head to the side, still staring ahead with glowing eyes. "Something powerful."

"The demon king?" Hakuryuu guessed, face serious and body battle ready.

Judar slowly shook his head. "No, that idiot's magic feels different. This is…heat and something earthy." Exhaling the Magi broke the stillness of his body and stepped forward. "Whatever it is, it's powerful."

His friend was quiet for a moment and then nodded. "I can feel it now too. Do you want to fight?" Hakuryuu asked.

Hakuei stepped forward. "I'm not sure if you should. At least, not here." She subtly glanced at the village.

Judar thought about it, weighing everything in his mind and then shrugged. "Let's just leave. If we meet this thing or come close to it, we fight it. If not, we can always hunt for it later."

Hakuryuu seemed to think it over as well before he nodded. "Fine with me." Then he turned to his sister and his demeanor softened a little. "We'll be going now."

She smiled at them and drew her brother in a short, quick hug. "Take care. I'll write you soon."

And with that they departed from the village, Hakuei waving after them before she went to a meeting with some of the elders or something – Judar hadn't really paid attention when she told them.

"What do you think it could be?" Hakuryuu asked, keeping his eyes on their surroundings and subtly trying to see if anything was coming towards them.

"Who knows? There aren't many monsters who can exude that much power over such a large distance without being a monster king." Judar frowned slightly. "And I'm not sure if I want it to be a monster king or not. I mean, I wouldn't mind going for one of those, but I really want to get the demon king first."

"I think I understand what you mean." Hakuryuu exhaled deeply. "Let's find him then."

* * *

"We crossed the ocean, walked through the desert –"

"Just passed it."

" – we walked passed it, climbed half a mountain and walked from one end of the grasslands to the other." Judar couldn't help but sound irritated. "So why do we find him _here_?"

Annoyed beyond everything, the Magi pointed at the brothel, the streets around them practically drenched in magical power. His skin showed Goosebumps and he felt the magic around him against his skin, smooth and light.

"Don't ask me that." Hakuryuu eyed the establishment. "I've never been in one of these things before."

Judar paused before he cleared his throat. "Ah, well. I haven't either, not as a guest or customer at least."

Hakuryuu's head snapped around and he stared at him, a heavy question in his gaze. Judar waved his hand at him. "Relax, never like that. I was a slave once remember? I stocked up some of the things they needed when I had been loaned to a brothel for…I think it was a month or something. Besides, I was only six back then."

Hakuryuu looked a little pissed off and a mix between bitter and oddly protective for a moment and if Judar hadn't known that his friend rarely showed that expression, he would have made fun of him and 'aw'-ed at him.

"Let's wait out here. I don't want to cause the building to collapse because of our fight." Hakuryuu said, the rare expression leaving his face again and he frowned distantly. "I doubt we ever had enough money to pay for the damage of a collapsed building."

"Eh, who needs that if you can just fly away?" Judar asked, though he looked around and then gestured for Hakuryuu to follow him. They slipped into the alleyway opposite of the brothel and sat down on a couple of crates.

Judar grumpily placed his chin in his hand. "And now we have to wait until god knows when. That idiotic king is so dead."

Hakuryuu just hummed in agreement and settled down; body relaxed and the tips of his fingers ran along his spear. His eyes narrowed a little when the half-monster spotted two guards patrolling down the street, halting to talk with one of the ladies that leaned out of the window of the brothel.

"I hope they don't stick around, we can't fight with the law under our nose." Hakuryuu mumbled and Judar scoffed.

"Please, I'll just spell them asleep or something. Give them a headache, make them lose their pants, whatever, you know?"

Hakuryuu gave him a dry look, though the Magi didn't miss the miniscule up-ward twitch of his mouth. Hah, his friend _did_ have a sense of humor after all. "I sometimes envy you for your abilities."

Judar just shrugged, knowing that even though Hakuryuu could use magic, he could never use it without his body shifting as well – which was one of the reasons why his friend never used his magic whenever other people were around, he would give away his bloodline on the spot otherwise.

The guards slowly sauntered off though, after a few minutes of jokes and flirts towards the woman, who giggled back and waved after them with a lascivious look from under her lashes.

Time started to tickle by and Judar started to become irritated, when it started to become quiet around them and even sounds and lights in the building before them started to dim.

"HOW LONG does he want to stay in there?" The Magi questioned and Hakuryuu just shrugged. His friend started to look a little tired and Judar himself would rather go back to their rented room than sit out here on a crate. He didn't even have food around or anything and just staring ahead was boring as hell.

"I'm not made for this." Judar grumbled and leaned against his staff. "I will never again camp out to wait for a monster to leave its lair. And if I do, remind me of why it's a bad idea."

"Okay." Hakuryuu stood up and stretched, his back giving a small, cracking sound, before he sat down again. "Should we leave though? I mean, would you notice it if he left town?"

Judar scowled. "He's too fucking fast. If he takes off like back on the mountain, we will have to scramble after him again. No, we have to get him when he doesn't have a lead on us."

The door of the brothel opened and they both sat up when they saw three men leaving the establishment. Judar could pick out the demon king immediately. For one, the power around him subtly intensified and the man that was laughing sounded completely like the idiot he had fought in the past. He was completely human looking, flowing violet hair and no claws when he gestured.

Judar even recognized one of the men with him. It was the tall redhead who had carried out the Sharrkan guy. The other man was shorter than the king and the redhead, wearing long clothes and his hair shone silver in the light from the brothel.

The door was barely closing behind the demon king, when he already paused and looked over towards them, meeting Judar's gaze dead on before looking at Hakuryuu. And Judar cursed the fact that the king's power overlapped the strength of his companions when they were this close to him. Because the redhead and the smaller man? Yeah, they were both monsters.

It shouldn't matter much though. The Magi had only grown stronger ever since they last met and his magic was singing high in his veins, curling along his hands.

"Hakuryuu…" Judar said quietly, the name heavy with meaning.

"Got it." His friend's voice sounded dark and ringing besides him, the magic of the half-monster curling like a beast around them, like a low, dangerous growl in the air.

In the next breath, just when the demon king had stepped away from the brothel, they already were on the three monsters. Hakuryuu attacked the two monsters accompanying the king, while Judar swung his staff at the king himself, whispering magic under his breath.

Ice and wind cracked down the street, freezing over the sides of buildings and making the air hum as clouds started to gather in the sky. The king had abandoned his human form and jumped up, floating in the air with dark hair and feathers on his arms. It was the very same look he had when they first met.

"Don't you ever get tired chasing me?" He yelled towards Judar, who took after him a second later, mixing fire and lightning with his spells. He may not be the most talented when it came to complicated and extravagant spells, but he was strong and skilled and he was only ever growing stronger.

He went after the king with everything he got and before he knew it, instead of running away, the king met him head on. They clashed in a whirl of magic and power, wind and fire, lighting up the sky.

Judar felt it humming around him, in him and a wide grin split his face when he broke through the power around him, bringing his magic down on the king. For a second he felt stronger than ever before, with light and darkness right at his fingertips.

Then something screamed around him, like an ear splitting, dark roar that shook the earth. In the next second he felt something slam against the protective shield around him and he crashed right into a building, feeling the stone break beneath him and rattling his bones with the impact.

The Magi barely had any time to react, before clawed hands slashed against his shield, digging in and he cursed when the tips broke past the barrier. Throwing the king off of him with a spell, he watched the monster crash through another wall, stones flying everywhere and he jumped after him, landing outside on the street again.

The king skidded to a halt, nimbly landing on his feet and straightening. His fangs were lengthened and his looks had changed to the scaled monster with the tail swishing behind him. The demon king kept his golden eyes fixed on the Magi, face deadly serious.

"This has to stop. Stop chasing me." He said and it still sounded so damn human, his voice missing any monster-like sounds and clashing oddly with his appearance.

"You wish." Judar gripped his staff and swung it around, blasting magic at the king that was strong enough to knock him from his feet. The king jumped up and to the side, thunder rumbling across the sky as he curled his clawed hand and a sword appeared in his fingers, lightning zipping down the blade.

Judar just hated him a little more than before for this trick.

He managed to jerk his staff up when the king came at him, barely catching the sword as it shattered his barrier. Then, suddenly, the king grabbed his staff with his other hand, hissing as the magic around it burned his skin. Baring his teeth in pain, the demon king yanked the staff from Judar's hands, who felt that movement all the way up to his shoulders and staggered backwards, his fingers feeling like someone broke the bones.

A clawed, scaled hand grabbed him around his throat, though it didn't crush the choker and Judar's neck, throwing the Magi across the street instead. The impact against the wall was barely cushioned by Judar drawing up his magic shield again, though it left him with a dizzy and reeling head, his body feeling far away.

He heard crashes around him, though it sounded muted and like he had stuffed his ears with cotton. His vision was swimming in and out of focus and when he blinked, he suddenly saw Hakuryuu leaning over him.

"Judar." His friend said urgently. "Can you get up? We have to get out of here really quickly."

The Magi focused as well as possible, trying to move, only to realize with a groan that he was too out of it, his head was spinning too much. Cursing quietly under his breath, Hakuryuu moved his flesh arm under Judar's back, carefully hefting him up.

"Sorry, this will be uncomfortable. I hope you won't throw up." Before Judar could ask what he meant, he was moved over his friend's shoulder, his arms limply dangling down. In the next moment, he felt the half-monster's magic around him and they took off into the sky.

He blacked out with the rush.

* * *

Judar woke up again to the smell of herbs and the smoke of a fire. Blearily opening his eyes, he was confused to see a wooden ceiling over him, before he turned his head. Hakuryuu stood with his back to him over a small stove with a fire beneath, stirring a pot.

"What?" Judar croaked and winced at the dryness of his throat. "Where?"

Hakuryuu jerked slightly, whirling around and relief was clearly visible on his face for a moment. "Thank goodness you woke up." He said, quickly walking towards the bed Judar was lying in. "Another day and I would have had to bring you to a healing house. How are you feeling?"

"Dry as the desert." Judar tried to sit up and his whole body groaned in protest. "And like I was in a brawl."

"Well, you have a huge bruise forming on your back and I think you hit your head pretty hard. What do you remember?"

Judar thought about it for a moment. "I fought against the king. Could have won too if I had been more careful. He fought me seriously this time though." The Magi eyed his friend. "How was it fighting the goons?"

Hakuryuu rolled his eyes and something about that relaxed his friend as the tenseness in his shoulders eased. "They are strong. The strongest monsters I encountered outside from the king, but I held up pretty well I guess. The redhead actually broke my wooden arm though and I have a shallow stab wound on my side." Hakuryuu gestured to his hip and Judar frowned.

"Is it bad?"

"It hurts, but it's healing just fine." His friend shrugged and then eyed him again. "How is your head?"

"Weird. I have a dull headache and it feels like someone stuffed cotton into the back of my head." Judar carefully lifted a hand and felt around his head. There was nothing though, no bump or wound, just an area that was a little sensitive. He would cast a healing spell – he had gotten better at them – and be done with it at the end of the day.

Judar then eyed Hakuryuu. "Let me practice healing spells on your wound later, okay?"

Hakuryuu gave him a deadpan look, already moving back towards the food. "If I die, you have to explain it to my sister. And don't leave out why."

Judar rolled his eyes and regretted it immediately, waving a dismissive hand at his friend. "Please, I need you, I won't kill you. Who is going to make me food after all?"

Hakuryuu just lifted an eyebrow and allowed Judar to see how he threw cut up carrots into the pot. Judar glared at him. "On second thought, I think your worries might be justified."

* * *

Judar tugged his thick coat closer around him, gripping the staff in his gloved hands tighter and stared across the endless ice and snow around them. Blinking, he turned to Hakuryuu. "I regret everything I said about heat and the desert, this is worse."

Hakuryuu had the audacity to just look unfazed. "I actually like the cold more than the heat." He said with a shrug.

Judar pointed at him. "I hate you." Then he glared out into the snow land. "And I hate this fucking king for being out here. Why? Couldn't he have stuck with the warm countries?"

Hakuryuu looked thoughtful. "I think he moved too close to the territories of the other kings. There is the king in the east and the king of beasts. We came pretty close to the borders of the countries they roam in."

Judar frowned. "To be honest, I don't think he'd give a fuck. He is damn strong after all."

His friend frowned slightly as well. "I don't know. For all we try to kill him, he hasn't tried to do the same." Judar would have immediately started to protest if it weren't for the dark voice the half-monster used and the equally dark look in his eyes. "He might be more sensitive to others than we think."

Judar scoffed. "Whatever." Then he eyed Hakuryuu. "You hate him for it, don't you? That he's behaving this way."

"A little. It would be a lot easier to kill him if he acted like the monster he is."

They were quiet after that, trudging through the snow. Judar mulled over Hakuryuu's words and came to the conclusion that his friend was right – and he hated that. He hated that he suddenly saw the king a little differently, more human and less like a fire breathing monster that burned down the land and ate people like field snacks. If anything, the king even avoided hurting them, turning to run when they were down even though he easily could have killed them a couple of times now.

"God damn it." Judar whispered under his breath and into the thick scarf around his neck. It wasn't like he wanted to stop hunting the demon king – oh no, he wanted to catch that idiot and defeat him, crooning and singing over how he finally won – but…did he really want to _kill_ him?

Scowling, Judar noticed that things had been so much easier before morale and thoughts came into play.

It was one thing to kill a beast with no brain and too sharp claws, sometimes still standing over the person it had just killed. It was one thing to capture a monster that locked farmers into a house and burned the whole village down with them. It was one thing to kill monsters that behaved like monsters, killing left and right and attacking them with every intent to eat them next.

Judar started to realize that it was something completely different if it was a monster that behaved like a human. He wasn't exactly sure where the line was drawn anymore. Curse Hakuryuu and what he said. Curse the king for blurring black and white into gray.

He just hoped he wouldn't think too much on the subject until they reached civilization again.

In the end, it took them two weeks to reach a small town and…then it just got weird. Judar stared down the main street of the town, thickly clad people bustling around. He scrunched up his face in a confused expression and felt Hakuryuu's patient gaze on him.

"Well?" His friend finally said after they stood in silence for a bit longer.

"This is so weird." Judar even sounded confused. "I swear I feel his power. I swear he is here…or was, it's just…it hangs."

"Hangs?" Hakuryuu raised his eyebrows in a slightly disbelieving manner. "Please speak in a way I can comprehend."

"There is no better way to describe it. Like…like someone drew a fucking line of power through here and just stopped here. Like the tip of the chalk breaking off and the professor can't write anymore. Does that make any sense?"

"Kind of." His friend though looked as confused as Judar felt. "Can you…I don't know, can you do something?"

"I'm feeling around this place like mad." Judar grumbled under his breath, looking up a bit more so that Hakuryuu could see his glowing eyes better. "His magic just breaks off, but it's strong and it's not exactly fading either. Not like it usually does. If he already left the place it usually feels like smoke dispersing in the air, the magic gets absorbed by nature. This is just…it's like mist. It hangs and it grows weaker way too slowly." Looking around, Judar shrugged with one shoulder, feeling disgruntled and clueless. "I think he was here shortly before us."

"Do you think it could be a trap?" Hakuryuu asked, eyeing the wide street and the shops along with the talking people.

"I don't think so. The power covers almost the whole town; it's too widely spread to be a trap. Though it could be someone plans to take us down along with the town, what I doubt."

Hakuryuu sighed. "What now? What could cause this?"

"We'll stick around. They have a library around here and I'm sure there is at least one magic knick-knack around in this town that I could use to contact the academy. I'll try to see if I can find anything from it and if not, well, we'll just start traveling again." Hakuryuu looked a little doubtful, but nodded and went along with the plan.

They went and rented a room and Hakuryuu accompanied Judar to the library. They went through the few books on magic that were present before Judar started to contact the academy and Hakuryuu just picked out books that sounded interesting.

The half-monster was almost through a novel when the Magi sat down beside him, looking thoughtful. In his arms were books and scrolls and scripts Hakuryuu had never seen before and he was sure the Magi had received them via some weird and complicated magic mumbo-jumbo. He returned to his novel and continued to read while Judar continued his research.

At some point they had to convince the librarian to let them stay past closing hours, since Judar wasn't allowed to take his research material outside of the library. And at another point, Judar just cast a small spell over the librarian to let them stay the night and told the guy to just get lost and go home.

By sunrise, the Magi made a triumphant and then confused sound. Hakuryuu, who had started to doze off, jerked to attention.

"What is it?" The half-monster asked.

Judar just frowned. "Okay, so I went through practically everything and I think…but it doesn't make sense. Or does it?" He bent a little more over the book he read.

"Judar, please speak in a manner that makes sense."

"Yeah yeah, just a moment." Waving a hand at his friend, the Magi just read over the pages in front of him a little more before he sat up again, closing the book with a small sound. "Okay, I have a reason that satisfyingly explains this weird thing, but at the same time makes me wish it was something different."

"It's dangerous?" Hakuryuu guessed.

"It sounds like either the king died here – death is one of the reasons why a monster's power can linger – but I don't think so. He's too dumb to just die like a bug without squishing the whole town in the process. The other thing is that –" Judar broke off when the door to the library opened unexpectedly.

They exchanged looks and Hakuryuu moved back his chair a little, his flesh hand finding his spear. No one was supposed to be here and they were around two or three hours from sunrise.

"Hello?" Judar called out, moving to grab his staff when a sudden, extremely bright light broke out across the room.

Cursing, the Magi closed his eyes, instinctively yanking up his arms to cover his face and feeling an odd heat along his skin. His hand though had still grabbed the staff and he already mumbled a spell to counter the light, when the staff was ripped from his hands.

Spitting another curse, he turned around, only to hear a loud, splintering crash, like wood breaking and then something hit the back of his head, causing him to black out.

* * *

Judar awoke to feeling large, warm hands touching his head, carefully feeling over the hurting area and two fingers worming under his choker to feel for his pulse. Frowning, he grumbled, trying to get the hands to fucking get away from the skin on his throat.

Someone exhaled quietly over him. "Magi, are you waking up?"

For a second, Judar was confused because he knew that voice but usually, if he was unconscious, it was Hakuryuu he woke up to and that certainly wasn't the voice of his friend, it was…oh fuck him.

Groaning, he forced his eyes to open, blinking as the blurred figure of the demon king came into view. "God no." He mumbled, letting his eyes slip closed again.

"I thought you might say that." The king said. "How is your head?"

"Stop talking and it will stop hurting." Judar grumbled, though he already forced his body to move. Thankfully he didn't experience any dizziness and he shot the king a dark look, leaning away from him before he paused. He noticed that he wasn't wearing his warm clothes anymore, just his shirt, pants and his shoes along with his jewelry. Nothing more.

Now that he could see clearly, the king didn't look like a monster at all – well, except for the cat-like pupils of his eyes – if anything, the man looked completely human. Carefully stretching out his magic, the Magi found…nothing. The humming, overwhelming power he was used to feeling was just…not there. He could feel the power of other monsters nearby though.

"The fuck?" He asked, frowning. "What's wrong with you?"

The king blinked before a surprised laugh escaped him. Then he pulled the top of his clothes down, exposing a complicated looking knot-like mark on his chest, accompanied by symbols around it. "Magic." He said simply. "Someone managed to seal my powers."

And holy fuck, that was bad news in so many ways, Judar didn't even want to think about it for a moment. It was one thing for the Magi to fight the kings. It was something completely different for a magician to possess the skills to pull off this sort of highly complicated spell. One wrong move could kill the caster after all.

Eyeing the king for a moment, Judar then looked around for his staff. Nothing, but he did see that the king had a sword, even though it looked a little rusty. He scowled.

"Why the hell do you have a sword?"

"It was lying around." The king shrugged and then looked serious. "I didn't expect to find anyone human down here with me, you least of all people."

"Which is making me question why I'm down here. With _you_." Judar felt along his magic and was relieved to find that everything was normal. No one had tried to seal him or anything. Though it meant jack shit without his staff. Curse the fact that magicians couldn't use their powers without wands or staffs. Seriously.

The king sat back on his haunches, placing his elbow on his knee and leaning his chin into his hand. "You hate me surprisingly much for the fact that we never met before that night in the ruins." Then his eyes grew a little darker. "And I don't exactly know why you are down here, but I'm here to either be killed, or to kill." He nodded to the side.

Judar reluctantly looked over and realized that they had been in some sort of cave with a dark tunnel leading away. Casting his eyes around he couldn't see a way to escape. "Where the hell are we?"

"In a monster lair I think. And they are powerful."

"Yeah, I can feel it." Judar grumbled and carefully curled his legs under his body to get up. His head still throbbed in time with his pulse and a dull ache rested behind his eyes, though it could have been worse. Once he was on his feet without getting dizzy or losing his balance, Judar glared at the king, before pausing. Hey, the idiot was absolutely defenseless right now, and Judar knew that he could dodge a sword swing, so…

He lunged for the king – because fuck it, he could be an opportunist if the situation allowed it – only to find himself lying on his back, the echo of a hand to his shoulder and a foot sweeping out to take him off his feet.

Blinking and drawing in a surprised breath, he saw the demon king standing over him, frowning.

"Will you stop that? I may be human right now when it comes to magical power, but that doesn't mean I don't know how to fight."

"I hate you." Judar gasped, slowly and carefully sitting up and rolling to his feet again.

The king sighed. "I know, though I don't know why." Then he eyed the tunnel. "Are you ready to leave?"

Judar stared at him. "I'm not going anywhere with you." The monster was even more idiotic than he had originally thought.

The king looked at him as if he wasn't sure what to say next, then he shrugged. "Suit yourself, but I advise you to not sit around and wait. And out there is a nest of monsters waiting and as long as you don't have a staff, you're pretty much defenseless, right?"

Judar gave him a dark look. "Just for your information, I'm very sure my companion will get me out of here."

"The half-child? He probably won't find you. My friends must be searching for me since…I think it has been around two days and they haven't found me yet. My best bet is to see if I can get out of here on my own." He gave Judar a contemplative look and the Magi barely resisted the urge to try and kick him. "Though I guess if I help you, you might be amenable to remove the seal on my powers."

Judar stared at him before bursting into laughter. "You wish!" He pointed at the king. "Forget it. I'll kill you before I do that."

"Well, for that you would need a way to use your magic, wouldn't you?" Judar really, really hated him.

Glaring at the king, the Magi turned around and stalked towards the tunnel. "You know what? I don't care, I'll kill you either way." Even if he morally wasn't exactly sure if he still could do it – he could bring the captured demon king to someone who was just too happy to lop off his head though. Or he could find a reason to kill him. The king must have messed up things somewhere. No monster was without blood on their hands – he didn't want to count the slave traders into that, because, seriously, those bastards deserved it.

"How did I get down here anyway?" Judar murmured, pausing to take a closer look at the cave he was still in. Then he saw the magic runes at the ceiling, hinting to someone moving the earth with magic, probably to toss him down and then close the opening again. He turned towards the king, only to recoil slightly when the monster was standing a few steps behind him.

"The hell?" Shaking his head he pointed at the ceiling. "Did you see how I came here?"

"You fell." The king looked a little disgruntled about that. "For a second I thought you might have injured your head."

"Why would someone do that?" Judar asked, frustrated and throwing up his hands. "Kidnapping me and stuffing me in this place with you of all people shouldn't be of any use to anyone."

"I've been thinking the same, until I took a step out there." The king pointed at the dimly lit tunnel. "That's also where I found the sword. Apparently, we aren't the first ones down here."

"What?" Judar's voice took on a disbelieving edge. "Why? Who would do that?"

"I don't know who, though I'm sure we will find out. And as to why…it seems to be an arena at the end of the tunnel. I'm not sure what's past it yet, since I heard stone shifting and returned here to see you falling down."

"Huh." Judar kept a suspicious eye on the king. "Don't follow me."

The monster gave him a dry look. "I don't exactly have much of a choice. Let's go."

"Don't order me around." Judar said, though it's more a reflex than anything else. He hated orders more than anything. The king paused and inclined his head in an apologizing manner.

"It wasn't meant to be an order." With that he just started to walk, rusty sword in hand and Judar flipped him off, even if he couldn't see it with his back turned. He might just try to strangle the idiot again before they even made it to the arena.

Sighing heavily, Judar trudged after him, keeping an eye out for any danger and feeling oddly…exposed. He never, under any circumstances, faced a monster or went after one without his staff or a wand, or at least something so he could use his magic. Every single sense in his body was bristling at the mere idea of walking into danger like a stupid mouse into a trap. The dim darkness of the tunnel certainly didn't help at all.

"I don't like this." He called out to the king, who was a few steps ahead of him. The monster paused, half turning to look at Judar.

"What exactly?" He smiled pleasantly. "Me or just this situation?"

Was this guy joking with him? Hell, he really was. "Everything." Ah, how he missed Hakuryuu right now. The half-monster certainly would have presented him with a perfected I'm-not-taking-you-seriously eye roll.

Sighing, Judar peered down the tunnel, though he couldn't see very far. "I don't like being defenseless and walking towards monsters. I can feel them you know? They are strong." He certainly didn't like the clashing hums around him. The magic of various monsters swirled through the air, some stronger than others.

The king seemed to think for a moment. "So, if we find you something you can use for your magic, you would feel safer?"

"Of course." Judar gave him his best you're-an-idiot look.

"Well then, I think we might find something if we venture on. Maybe even the horn of a monster? Would that do as well?" He sounded so practical about it, casually moving on and inspecting the sword a little.

Judar stared at him suspiciously before he followed the king again. "I guess it could work. Depends on the horn though."

It wouldn't be quite as powerful as his staff and he certainly wouldn't be able to use his magic and spells to his fullest, but it certainly would be enough to protect himself. And probably to take the king down. Which opened the question…

"Why would you be willing to give me a weapon that I can defeat you with?"

The monster stopped walking again and waited until Judar had caught up to him, before he looked at him seriously. "I'm still strong; I could find a way to fight you. Besides, if you can use magic, you could find a way out of here faster, it's a risk I'm willing to take."

Judar for a second really wasn't sure if he started to hate the king more or if he actually felt grudging respect for him for a moment.

"Fine. I'll still try to take you down." He said, because somehow, it was only fair. The king just hummed and continued walking, the jerk.

Judar stared at his back and the long, violet hair, trying to picture actually going through with killing this monster. It was more difficult to imagine it than he wanted to admit.


	4. Chapter 4

**And finally, after too much time, the next chapter! I hope you'll like it and I thank you for your continued support! Also, thanks to Frozen Peaches who's just the loveliest beta, thank you dear, for all the help and advice and hand-holding I sometimes need to get something done.**

* * *

"What the hell?" Judar mouthed quietly and felt the king kneeling beside him, evaluating the situation before them.

The arena, as the monster had called it, was more a huge open space over a hundred meters in length. It was around five or six meters under their current position with varying beasts prowling around. Dead carcasses were littering the ground here and there, half rotten and partly eaten corpses dragged to the sides, the earth dark with spilled and dried blood. And the smell in the air was the worst stench of death Judar had ever had the misfortune to stumble upon. It made him want to retch, his throat closing up.

"Yeah, whatever goes on here is sick." The king murmured, long fingers dancing along the hilt of his sword - and Judar still wasn't used to seeing normal fingertips instead of claws.

"Well, have fun." Judar grumbled. "There is no way I'm throwing myself into this fray without defenses."

The king hummed, tapping his index finger against the handle of his sword and tilting his head in an assessing manner. His golden eyes were fixed on the monsters under them, sharp and cool. Then he smiled slightly at the Magi and Judar thought that it was the most chilling expression he had ever seen.

"I'll be right back."

"I don't care, feel free to die." Judar whispered as the king ducked to move away. The monster paused for a moment and the cold smile turned into something…fond. The fuck?

Judar stared after the retreating back of the king and felt like someone slapped him in the face with a fish – believe it or not, it really had happened once and it was the closest Hakuryuu had ever gotten to cracking a real, wide smile when that particular occurrence took place.

Feeling oddly vulnerable without the king beside him – to either try and trip him up to leave him in the path of danger or to use him as a sort of defense. Maybe he should have tried to insist to keep the sword, even though he knew next to nothing about sword fighting. He probably couldn't even hold it right.

Making sure to stay hidden, Judar peered past the rocks he was behind and watched the monsters as they wandered around the arena, sniffing the air and growling and swiping at each other. Two even started to rip into a third monster, howling and roaring, causing small crumbs of earth to rain down into the arena. Judar grimaced when he felt the aggressive spikes of magical power all around him, constantly on edge and just waiting to shed blood. A part of him even felt like baring his teeth in response.

He couldn't stay here for long. Whatever the damn hell was wrong with this place, it started to affect him and he could feel it. He felt it along the edges of his tense shoulders and the dark swirl of power in his belly, moving up into his chest. He curled his hands slightly to dig his fingertips into the rocky surface around him.

Taking a deep breath, he tried to think of sunshine and peaches and how ruffled Hakuryuu had looked when his sister had tried to take care of him. Damn, his friend better get him out of here fast if he can't manage to find an exit on his own soon.

"Magi."

Judar jolted in surprise, barely suppressing a startled sound, when he heard the demon king's voice behind him. God damn, even with his powers reduced to those of a human the damn idiot moved without a single sound.

"Yeah?" Judar turned around, keeping a low profile and heard a small, wooden clatter. Staring down at the stick that rolled towards him, he felt a disbelieving expression settle on his face.

A stick. A fucking stick. Seriously? He hadn't used one ever since he was a small child and a slave, just discovering that he could use magic and secretly practicing it.

He had a profound dislike when it came to using sticks as wands. For one, the general, normal stick wasn't made of strong enough wood, it would break too fast if he used too much magic. Secondly, a stick that wasn't formed and made for magical use was like trying to see through muggy water. It worked, but it was sluggish and felt a little numb, the spells never accurate or even close to perfect.

Judar scowled but picked it up. "Where did you find it? And there was nothing better?"

There probably wasn't. The monster seemed smart enough to know that a simple stick wasn't good enough for high class magic spells. But then again, the only other option would be to jump down into the arena and try to find a bone that fit his needs and that was just…just no. No way.

"There is a corpse a bit back there." The king pointed over his shoulder. "Looked like a monster with a human appearance, he had a broken blade with him too and was missing half his…well, body."

Judar gave him a dry look. "Wow, so much information I could do without." The scrunched up his nose slightly. "And stop calling me Magi."

The king lifted an eyebrow. "What am I supposed to call you then?"

The Magi grumbled a bit before he sighed quietly. "Judar."

And the fucking monster's face lit up in a warm smile, like they weren't stuck in a damned situation from hell and like they had just met in the most pleasant way ever – as if Judar had never tried to take his life.

"I'm Sinbad; it's a pleasure to meet you. Well, getting to know your name."

Judar, despite himself, snorted quietly in dry amusement. Sinbad. Damn, now he even had a name for the demon king. And wasn't that troublesome too. All the other monsters he had killed before were either named by the species they belonged to or after their looks.

"Whatever." Judar finally said and glanced to the arena. "What are we gonna do about these things?"

He certainly wouldn't try to take out the demon king while he still had to get through at least a dozen monsters or so. Maybe even more.

"I think the next tunnel is down there." Sinbad said quietly, moving closer to Judar and subtly pointing down. "I couldn't find one up here the last time I took a look around and before you came."

Groaning, Judar scrubbed a hand over his face and through his bangs. "How the hell do we get through them?"

Sinbad just smiled pleasantly. "Well, you could start with erasing the seal on my powers."

Judar felt like kicking him down to the monsters for a second before he heaved a sigh. "This stuff is too complicated for just a stick. I'd need something solid and withstanding to undo it." He paused. "Let me see it again though."

Maybe he could remove at least a part of it? Just enough to power up the king and get them through the monsters. He could stop there after all and…okay no, fighting the king when he wasn't at his best just sounded like a shit idea. It wasn't something Judar wanted to do. If he got the glory for defeating the demon king, he damn well wanted the king to be able to live up to his name.

Without hesitation, Sinbad pulled down the top of his clothes again, patiently waiting for Judar to examine the seal. The Magi moved closer, ignoring the increasing tension in his shoulders when he got this close to the monster. But in the dim twilight he really couldn't see too well with distance between them. He still didn't feel comfortable.

"I might be able to do something." He murmured, concentrating on the black lines and closing his hand tightly around the stick. The wood gave a weak creak and Judar faintly wondered if it would even last past one or two spells. Well, only one way to find out.

Concentrating on the seal, Judar spoke slowly and clearly, voicing a small spell where he usually just skipped saying anything at all because there was no need once he had mastered his powers. With the stick though, he had to be sure to be as precise as possible.

One of the symbols around the seal vanished and Judar knew he looked disgruntled. He had aimed at three symbols. Damn, this stick really was shit, but it was still holding up at least.

The king though looked pleased and breathed in a little deeper. "Oh yeah, I think I can feel it. Do you think you can do it again?"

Well, it looked like he had to. Taking a deep breath, Judar concentrated again.

He managed to erase almost half of the symbols before he almost collapsed against the stones, feeling a faint, straining tremor in his muscles. He felt utterly drained and just from a few spells he normally did easily. He missed is staff more than anything.

When he blinked, the demon king had moved to crouch beside him, golden eyes concerned. By now the king had his claws back and something about that felt more natural than the human looking hands.

"Are you alright?"

Judar just waved him off and faintly felt out with his senses, feeling the king's magic faintly curl beside him. It was still muted and ways away from the power it normally held, but it was oddly comforting to know that Sinbad had a little bit of his fighting strength again. It should make getting past the monsters easier at least.

Sinbad looked at him a moment longer and then nodded, experimentally moving his hands. "I haven't felt this weak in a long time." He mumbled under his breath before glancing at the arena. "We'll wait until you regained some strength before we move."

Judar frowned, but didn't protest, just leaned back against the stone and resisted the urge to close his eyes. He may not feel threatened by the king, but he didn't trust him either.

* * *

The plan had been dumb in Judar's mind, but it was the only one they had – with only one exit to the arena. It shouldn't have surprised him that it didn't work out.

Still, a part of him found himself caught off guard, when they snuck down into the arena, hiding behind corpses – ew – and walking through dark puddles of blood – ew too – and suddenly a monster had jumped on top of a corpse.

The bones had broken with a loud, painful and cracking sound, the flesh giving off an odd squishing sound like wetness getting sucked out of a drenched towel. It was disgusting as hell. Everything here just made him want to hurl.

Judar ripped up his stick, ready to defend himself with this pathetic thing, when Sinbad had already moved, smoothly jumping up, clawed hand ripping into the other monster and bringing the sword down with his other hand to cut the head off in one motion. Judar thanked the lords that he hung out and traveled with Hakuryuu, who never had any trouble with beheading a monster and therefore, it wasn't the first head he saw rolling.

Still, it was disgusting and made him cringe back.

The headless body of the monster collapsed with a groan and Sinbad was back at his side, flicking blood from his blade. Judar eyed him for a second before looking around again, relieved to see that no other monster noticed them for now.

They continued on, keeping their heads down to avoid being seen.

The other tunnel just came into view after something that felt like eternity, and Judar was close to breathing a sigh of relief, when he heard a low, warning rumble to his side. Freezing and looking over, he saw a monster moving towards them.

On the first glance it looked like a huge, oversized cat, but then he saw the spikes along the spine of the monster, the claws where paws should have been, the too long teeth and that part of the fur tapered off into scaly skin when it came to its behind, the tail ending in a long, swishing reptile tail. Judar eyed it and his first guess would be that this thing could be poisonous. Those who looked the most like normal animals usually had some sort of ace up their sleeve – like poison or paralytic fluids.

The dark eyes of the monster fixed on them and it ducked low, an aggressive snarl leaving its throat as it dragged claws over the ground.

"Judar." Sinbad spoke slowly, shifting his body into a fighting position. "The others will notice once we fight. Start running when it attacks and don't stop."

"Don't tell me what to do." Judar quietly said back, tightening his grip on his stick. Well, he would do it anyway. One or two monsters they could take on, but if all of them attacked at once? Yeah, their chances didn't stand very well, not in the condition they were in right now, with his feeble stick and Sinbad's powers still almost completely sealed.

The cat-monster roared and Judar cursed, turning and sprinting as it leaped towards them. Without looking back he ran towards the exit, dodging another, snarling monster and skidding over a puddle of blood, almost losing his balance.

Without breath he managed to get into the tunnel, slipping on something wet in the last bit and stumbling into the wall. Breathing heavily, he grasped at the rough stone to keep himself upright and felt where the wall had scratched up his cheek.

Straightening himself, he turned to look at the entrance, only to see the demon king jumping inside. Sinbad didn't stop running, just grabbed his arm and dragged him along, making Judar lose his footing. The Magi cursed as he fell, feeling himself being dragged over the floor and then he saw the monster that tried to follow them, fitting about half its head and shoulder into the entrance, before it got stuck. Roaring wildly and making the ceiling shake, it reached for them, dragging long claws over the earth and rocks.

Finally, Sinbad stopped and Judar realized that he had a death grip on the arm that held on to him. Slowly letting go of the Magi, the king straightened and took a deep breath. Meanwhile, Judar felt like he had trouble calming his pulse as he too let go.

"What the hell was that?" He asked, voice sounding high and as breathless as he really was.

"I apologize." Sinbad didn't sound very apologetic though. "There was just no time to do anything different."

Yeah, Judar had to admit that being dragged across the ground was better than being clawed at, still, he felt like the king had scared a couple of years off of his life.

Getting up, even though his body protested, Judar dusted as much dirt as possible from his clothes and then peered down the dark tunnel. They heard the angry growls and snarls of the monsters behind them, the telling, dark squelch as another one of the beasts found its death.

A last bit of light fell from the entrance down the tunnel, but soon nothing but pitch-black darkness remained. Judar frowned at it.

"That looks more like a trap than anything else."

"Well, you could always remove more of my seal." The king suggested with a charming smile. Judar just gave him a dry and suspicious look, making Sinbad sigh. "Yeah, thought so."

"Let's go, I want to get out of here." Placing a hand on the wall to keep his orientation – a trick he had learned when he had gotten lost in a cave with Hakuryuu – Judar started walking.

The king was directly behind him, fingers brushing along the stone as well. Judar wondered if he should feel uncomfortable and let Sinbad walk first, but by now he was too tired to care. His body hurt all over from falling down and being dragged, he just wanted a bed and some sleep. He was faintly glad that he wasn't hungry, that was another problem he didn't want on his plate.

They were quiet as they walked on, quickly enshrouded in complete darkness. At some point the fighting noises of the monsters grew quiet and then completely disappeared.

Silence was all around them and only their quiet breaths cut through it from time to time. It grew colder too and Judar only realized it when he his hands became numb and his cheeks burned with the cold.

"Is it just me or is it freezing down here?" Sinbad suddenly said. Even though he spoke quietly, his voice still seemed too loud in the silence.

"No, it is getting colder." Judar answered and felt even more uneasy than before. "Where are we even going?"

"I wish I knew." The king mumbled something under his breath and for a moment a ball of light appeared in his hands. Judar cursed and closed his eyes against the sudden light before it was gone again. "Damn, I hoped that I could keep it up longer." Sinbad murmured.

"The hell was that?" Judar grumbled, rubbing against his closed eyes in hopes of getting rid of the dancing light specks.

"I tried to get a look around but I'm too weak right now to even hold up a simple spell." The king sighed. "But I couldn't see anything but the tunnel ahead of us."

"Well, we should arrive somewhere at some point. Even if it's a dead end."

"You're right."

They continued to walk, though this time, Judar felt as if the silence was oppressing.

"So, how exactly did you get that seal?" He asked when he felt like he couldn't take the quiet anymore.

"I met up with someone because of a very powerful monster. I had taken on a human disguise while in the city and I've been trying to find that thing that apparently had taken apart a whole city just a few miles from there."

Yeah, Judar had heard about that and also that the monster had suddenly disappeared without a trace. …it sounded suspiciously like what had happened with the king, now that he thought about it.

Sinbad continued. "To be honest, I don't remember it very well anymore. I met with that person in the entrance to an alley and suddenly there was this blinding light. I think someone touched my chest and the next thing I know is that I woke up down here."

"Why would someone do that?" Judar mumbled, frowning to himself.

"I don't know, though I have a few ideas. Someone might just love to see monsters rip each other apart; someone might just love to display their power like that. Maybe someone believes in that legend that if you drink the blood of a powerful monster and grind the bones to dust to bathe in them and milk, that any sickness can be cured."

"I thought the milk bath legend was about giving someone eternal beauty and youth?"

"There are varying versions of that legend." It sounded as if the king had shrugged. "I personally think they are all wrong."

Yeah, Judar had to agree with him on that, since there was no record in the history of magic, where such a thing ever worked.

Silence descended again and Judar started to think about a topic when the king spoke up first this time.

"Why do you hunt me?" He didn't sound accusing or anything of the sort, just mildly curious.

"You're strong." Judar said, gesturing with his hand before he could stop himself. It wasn't as if Sinbad would be able to see his movements after all. "I want to fight the strong ones. Monsters kill and eat humans. And you're a monster. I never met a monster that hasn't killed innocents before."

The king was quiet for a moment. "That's not quite true, you know. Some of us aren't that bad. We're more human than you think."

"Are you trying to argue with the history books? There is a reason why you guys are feared." Judar spoke over his shoulder, momentarily losing contact with the wall because his body swayed sideways. Quickly, he leaned over again and felt the cold stone under his fingers once more.

"And humans are right to fear monsters. I can't say I have never killed, as you have seen in the ruins with the slave traders." The king sounded offended now. "But I never burned down a village or hurt people that haven't attacked me first."

Judar lifted an eyebrow, feeling faintly irritated. "What is it to you anyway? Why do you care why I hunt monsters?"

"I do care, because I am a monster as well and you have hunted me for months now." Sinbad said after another moment of silence. "And I know other monsters that try to live peacefully. Besides, it's not like there aren't black sheep among you humans as well."

Judar grit his teeth. For some reason he felt even more irritated now than before. And really, he knew there were some bad humans, but there were even more horrible monsters out there, tearing through villages and some are smarter than others and kill people while hiding behind a spell that made them look human.

"Don't blame me for caring. I care for my brethren just like you care for your friend." The king suddenly said softly, just when Judar had heavily exhaled. The Magi stopped walking and startled slightly, when Sinbad slightly bumped into him, before backing up again.

"Why do you care what I think?" Judar found himself saying.

Sinbad was quiet for a moment. "I want us to understand each other, at least a little. I'm not saying that there aren't bad monsters. I myself have hunted quite a number of them because of their out of control bloodlust. However, there are other monsters as well. Monsters that try to get along with the world they live in. Besides, what do you have to say about the children of monsters and humans, like your friend then?"

Anger flared up in Judar. "Don't you dare drag Hakuryuu into this. He had enough shit in his life for being who he is."

"Monsters accept half-children, you know." Sinbad said it so offhandedly that it made Judar speechless for a moment. "We don't discriminate against them like you humans do. Someone has the magic of a monster in them? Okay, they are one of ours. Is there the smell of a human under it? Eh, we just get used to it. It's not that complicated."

Judar threw up his hands, accidentally smacking the back of one against the king's shoulder. "Why are we talking about this now?"

"I'm just saying. There is more than the world you grew up in."

The Magi laughed for a second, disbelieving and harsh. "You have absolutely no idea how I grew up, so shut it. I'm a Magi; it's my job to hunt monsters."

"A Magi's job is actually more about balance I believe. And about hunting, I don't deny that. But you hunt those that kill and hurt defenseless people. You don't slaughter those that just want to live peacefully."

Judar sighed heavily, rubbing a hand over his eyes. "I think we won't find a common ground to agree on."

"Let's just agree to disagree." There was a clear note of humor in the king's voice now. Judar rolled his eyes.

"Whatever. Let's go again; I don't want to be stuck here longer than I need to."

"Of course."

* * *

By the time they reached the end of the tunnel, Judar felt tired enough that he swore he swayed on his feet. It was horribly cold and his body trembled faintly. And they just had found a dead end.

Cursing, Judar stretched out his hands, touching the surface and felt smooth lines in the stone.

"Shit, there are runes. Can you make light?"

The ball of light appeared and Judar managed to get a glimpse of the runes before it was dark again. It was a magically sealed entrance, one that required a high class spell he couldn't perform with this stupid stick he had. The Magi felt like cursing up a storm. Why, why were seals everywhere? Whoever had locked them down here had a seal fetish or something. Whatever it was, it wasn't healthy for him right now.

"You really are weak as hell right now." Judar finally said.

Sinbad sighed. "As I said, feel free to remove more of the seal and it will change." And Judar was really, really tempted to do that.

He probably would too, just not right now. He was too exhausted and he just wanted to sleep despite the cold all around them. Wrapping his arms around himself, he thought about their situation.

"I can't do anything about that right now." Judar finally said. "I can't break through this. And you can't go against that sort of magic right now either." He closed his eyes, allowing his body to lean against the wall. "I want to sleep."

A loud rumble suddenly filled the air and Judar clamped a hand over his belly, feeling the hungry rumble of his stomach too strongly. Oh no, not that too. Groaning, Judar cursed his luck.

"Come on." The king's voice was soft and Judar felt clawed fingertips brushing his shoulder. "Let's rest."

"It's too cold." Judar felt another tremor running through his body. "Don't tell me you aren't as affected by this than I am."

"Well, since I'm a monster, I think I have better constitution than humans, but even I feel the cold. Do you want to walk back to the arena then? It wasn't as cold there."

Judar thought it over and then pushed his protesting body away from the wall. "Yeah, let's walk back." He sounded exhausted even to his own ears.

This time, the king walked before him and Judar kept his hand on the wall, though now it was more to lean against it than to keep his orientation.

He lost track of time quickly, wondering just why this tunnel had to be so damn long and just how long it really was, or if his tired mind just couldn't quite grasp concepts anymore. His feet seemed to just carry on themselves, making dozens upon dozens of steps without him realizing.

He wondered how long he was down here already and how Sinbad could have made it past two days without just trying to kill everything in order to…to maybe get out or something.

Judar frowned then. "Hey, when we were in the arena I felt something."

"What was it?" Sinbad asked over his shoulder.

"Aggression. The monsters were so volatile it felt like their magic riled mine up too. I don't feel it so far away from the arena, but…I don't want to get too close either."

"Then we'll keep our distance." The king simply said and Judar made an agreeing sound, feeling his eyes droop a little. Damn, he just wanted to sleep and then eat something, but mostly he just wanted to rest. His whole body hurt and he still felt the strain of using magic with the stick in his bones.

The Magi could have laughed with relief when he felt the first faint wave of magic, aggressive and from the strongest monsters. Soon enough more and more power and magic joined the first wave and when Judar started to feel like he would fall to the ground with his next step without getting up again, they heard a far away roar. The air was a lot warmer around here too.

"Do you want to get closer? Or is this far enough?" Sinbad asked and Judar wanted to answer, really, he did, he just felt too tired. He was also pretty sure that only his stubbornness kept him on his feet and his mind was too sluggish to really think.

The king paused when the Magi didn't answer and Judar bumped into him. For a moment he felt himself sway in place before pitching forward into the broad back of the monster.

"Are you okay?" It felt like Judar had only just blinked, before suddenly finding himself in the arms of the king, who held him up. He decided it wasn't fair. How come the monsters were that much stronger than humans? Really unfair. Hakuryuu was the same.

Judar grumbled something and lifted a heavy hand to wave the king off, only to smack him against the chin accidentally.

"Okay, I get it." Sinbad murmured and shifted his grip, hoisting the Magi onto his back after maneuvering him around. Judar made a displeased sound, though he already felt himself slipping away, his body too heavy to move.

"I'll carry you until we can see a little again, okay? Sleep, nothing should get us down here."

Judar was pretty sure that he had a smart comeback to that. Or maybe another death threat. Instead, he fell asleep.

* * *

When Judar woke up again, it was to aching limbs and a warm back pressed against his. He knew immediately that it was the king, felt the suppressed power of the monster curled along his own magic, but he couldn't bring himself to hate this position. The floor was bitingly cold under his side and his back at least was warm with the king. It may not be a perfect solution, but it was better than just…freezing or something.

Besides, Judar felt a lot better already, even if his bruises and scratches hurt more than they had any right to. Carefully moving, the Magi felt how stiff his joints were and some parts of his body gave small cracks when he sat up.

Judar realized that a very dim light was falling into the tunnel, barely enough to see each other and the outline of the stone hallway. When he looked at Sinbad, he saw how the monster blearily opened his eyes, blinking and then moved slightly to fix golden eyes on him.

"Slept well?" The king asked, voice rough from sleep and rubbed a hand over his face. In that one movement along with that voice, he sounded so incredibly human, that Judar didn't even notice the claws or his fangs. Wait, his fangs?

"Wait a moment!" Quickly grabbing the king's face, Judar intently stared at his mouth. "I swear I saw fangs. Show me your teeth."

Sinbad stared at him for a moment before opening his mouth slightly and pulling his lips back. And yeah, he had fangs alright.

"Show me the seal." Judar urged on and Sinbad raised an eyebrow before pulling his clothes down. Two more of the symbols were gone. Surprised, Judar touched the seal, feeling warm skin under his fingertips.

"It's unraveling on its own." He murmured. "Must be because I started opening it, the magic doesn't hold together well enough anymore. And your magic would be powerful enough to push against it too."

He stopped, noticing where his hand was and quickly pulled back. This was good news though. Staring at the seal, Judar guessed that he should be able to remove the rest of the symbols which only left the complicated knot. But maybe by then Sinbad had enough of his powers back to break the entrance of the tunnel open? It was worth a try and the only solution they had anyway. Without a real, proper staff or wand Judar had no hopes of opening the entrance himself.

"Come on." Carefully standing up, Judar picked up his stick as well. "We have a lot to do and I want to get out of here."

With one fluid, quick motion Sinbad was on his feet and Judar rolled his eyes. It must be a monster thing to show off, since Hakuryuu – and even his sister – did the same thing; a blatant, casual display of their strength.

They started walking again and Judar felt the hollow, biting emptiness of his stomach sooner than he hoped and he pressed a hand against it in hopes of keeping the growling quiet. The thought about hunger made him address the king though.

"How come you aren't hungry? I never heard your stomach rumbling." To emphasize the point, his own stomach growled.

"I ate a lot before I got captured. And it's not the first time I'm without food for more than a day, I just hope we can get out of here soon enough."

Judar made a thoughtful sound, shelving the information away for later. They continued on in silence and this time it felt like they reached the end of the tunnel sooner – though it still was a way too long way until they were there.

Once they reached the end with Judar bumping into the rough wall, he turned towards the king.

"Okay, I'll work on the seal. How long can you make light?"

Gentle light lit up the tunnel and stayed this time, though there was a highly concentrated look on Sinbad's face. "It wasn't this difficult even when I was a kid." The king mumbled, looking a little disgruntled.

Quickly using the light, Judar lifted his stick, slowly and clearly speaking the magic spell for seal removal, feeling his magic drain in bigger amounts out of him to have a sadly small effect on the outside thanks to the stick. It was like trying to get water flowing through a pipe with holes. A lot just ran out instead of arriving at its destination.

By the time Judar managed to remove the last of the symbols, sweat clung to his forehead and his vision was graying slightly on the edges, but he really, really wanted to get out of here so the dizziness was worth it.

Leaning against the cold wall and breathing in deeply, the Magi felt the stronger coil of magic beside him. By now the demon king was about as strong as most of the monsters in the arena. The ball of light was now floating freely between them like a discarded thought, barely taking any concentration from Sinbad anymore.

The king was eyeing the runes on the wall when Judar looked over to him.

"What do I do?" Sinbad asked, clawed fingers carefully touching along the grooves in the stone.

"Punch through it?" Judar said exhausted. "Blow it away, I don't care. Just…do your thing or whatever."

The king looked contemplative, before stepping back and drawing his arm back to punch the wall. An odd rumble went through the tunnel then and Judar felt the tremor of magic in the air, like a weird, displaced echo.

Sinbad however, was hissing and quickly pulling away. Judar saw that his fist was bleeding badly, the knuckles more than busted and for a second it even looked as if a bone or two in his hand were broken.

Looking at the injured hand, Sinbad grumbled under his breath, clearly something in the language of monsters, since Judar couldn't understand more than a faint growl and hiss. Carefully, the king moved the injured hand and Judar watched as the bones slowly fit right again and the knuckles healed.

"What was that?" Judar asked, stepping closer and ignoring the tired heaviness in his body. God, he hated using sticks. They were so annoying.

"It's a strong spell, but I think I can get through it." Sinbad drew back and without warning punched the wall again, making another rumble travel through the tunnel. Again, his fist was bloodied.

This time the king didn't even wait for his injuries to heal and just placed his flat palm against the stone along with his other hand. His gaze was focused and his golden eyes looked sharper than ever.

Taking in a deep breath, Sinbad began murmuring under his breath and Judar only realized that it was a magic spell when he felt the king's power building around him, pushing like an invisible force.

The stone walls around them rumbled again and a far away groan resounded around them. Then Judar heard the crick of breaking stones, similar to splintering ice.

The king suddenly stopped and they saw cracks appearing across the wall in front of them. Judar felt oddly proud and relieved, until the king suddenly grabbed his shoulder and dragged him back away from the wall.

"I'm not the one doing that." He murmured, picking up the sword he had leaned against the tunnel wall.

The cracks grew wider and deeper and suddenly they felt something shake and break around them before the wall came down in a tumble of stones.

Judar held his breath as he waited for the dust from ground to settle and he heard something moving over the rocks.

The air cleared and he felt like laughing and collapsing when he saw Hakuryuu carefully maneuver over the stones along with the silver haired monster they had seen in front of the brothel.

"Ja'far!" Sinbad called out at the same time as Hakuryuu saw the Magi and Judar just grinned at him.

"Took you long enough." Judar complained in his usual, offhanded tone, sagging against the tunnel wall and a moment later Hakuryuu was at his side, supporting him and hefting him upright.

"Sorry." His friend said quietly. "It took us a while to even find a clue where you could be."

"Us?" Judar asked, eyeing the silver haired monster and looked at the entrance, only to see the redhead from last time standing there, skin healing over busted knuckles. He must have been the one to break the entrance open.

"I'll explain everything to you later, let's get you out of here."

"I can't tell you how much I agree with that." Judar mumbled, allowing his friend to drag him out of the tunnel.

* * *

"So you're saying that someone actually believed the legend about the blood and bones of a powerful monster healing sicknesses?" Judar asked in disbelief as he allowed Hakuryuu to check over his injuries. They were currently on the other side of the entrance, sitting on a collapsed column of an abandoned, pretty big shrine.

Ja'far, a very strong snake-monster with a human body nodded and Judar swore he could see a glimmer of silvery scales along the monster's skin.

"The lord residing close to the city both of you were abducted at." As he said that he shot Sinbad a sharp look. "Recently had come down with a sickness no one could cure. He sent out someone he trusted to find him a powerful magician and they returned with the woman who managed to seal Sinbad."

"She was the one who built the arena." Hakuryuu said, cleaning a deep scratch along Judar's arm and huh, he hadn't even noticed that or the dried blood there. "She placed a spell there to make the monsters fight each other, since the legend says that only with a thousand deaths upon them while fighting the strongest, can a monsters bones have the desired effect."

Ja'far nodded, staring at the young magician that was sitting besides the demon king, currently removing his seal – and Judar still was surprised about the fact, that someone as cultivated and smart as her was obviously working with these monsters.

"How come she picked us? And how did you find us?" Sinbad asked, holding still while the magician quietly murmured words under her breath.

"She picked you because you obviously are the demon king." Judar said with a sigh and Ja'far nodded.

"Indeed. And she picked a Magi to add magical power to the whole mix. And Magi are the strongest magicians, so she probably thought it fitting for the demon king and a Magi to fight each other. She had to seal you though, since she could never hope to contain you with your full power." Ja'far said while facing Sinbad again.

And yeah, okay, that made a twisted sort of sense. It was still dump in Judar's mind, that a powerful magician actually believed those legends.

"So, how did you find us?" Judar asked, turning an asking glance to Hakuryuu, who seemed satisfied with how he treated his friend's – minor, mind you – injuries.

"When the flash went off in the library I blacked out or something." Hakuryuu said, face stoic, but Judar saw how much he had hated that and just how unhappy he was about what had happened. "When I woke up again it was morning and I started looking for you. That's how I eventually met them." He nodded to Ja'far and the redhead, Masrur, if Judar recalled correctly.

"How long was I missing then?" Judar asked.

"Around almost a day, it was evening when I accidentally met them."

"We decided to team up after…putting aside our differences." Ja'far said, just slightly stiff. Ah, Hakuryuu probably had given them trouble first. "Together and with the books you left behind." He looked at Judar as he said that. "We managed to get a lead."

"It took us until today though to find out about the lord and the magician. And we managed to trace their lead to this place." Hakuryuu gestured around the abandoned building they were in. "We felt the king's magic when we started to look for an entrance and that's how we found you."

"There are monsters down there." Sinbad suddenly said, his expression serious. Judar watched, slightly fascinated, as the woman besides him stopped speaking and the last traces of the seal faded into nothing.

All of a sudden, power surged up around them, pressing and roaring, like a beast stretching out fully after staying unmoving. It left Judar breathless for a second, before his own magic responded in kind and pushed up against the tidal wave, holding his ground.

After another moment, Sinbad's magic calmed down again and the king took a deep, satisfied breath, his human features shifting and falling away until he was the dark haired, feathery monster they had met in the ruins out by the desert.

"This feels so much better. Thank you, Yamuraiha." The king smiled at the magician, who sat down beside him and smiled back.

"Well, since this is taken care of." Ja'far stood up. "Let's leave this place."

"Not yet." Sinbad held up a hand and the snake-monster gave him a narrow eyed look. "I want to free the monsters down there. Or at least kill them so they don't have to waste away in this pit."

Ja'far sighed and looked at Masrur, who simply stood behind Sinbad like an unmoving, supportive wall. "Alright, we'll see what we can do. Yamuraiha, would you mind coming with us to see if we need you to free them?"

Nodding, the woman stood up. "I'll come along."

Judar himself forced his aching body to move, and gratefully took his staff and the coat Hakuryuu handed to him. He had missed it and his magic finally stretched out properly, when he used a small healing spell before slipping into the warm clothes.

"We're going to leave." Judar announced, simply because he felt the need to and sauntered away, sending a lazy wave over his shoulder. "It still stands, feel free to die."

He heard the quiet, throaty laugh of the king behind him as Hakuryuu walked beside him, sending him a look. Once they were outside, Judar enjoyed the fresh air, even if it was cold as hell.

"You don't want to fight him?" Hakuryuu asked and Judar sighed, feeling his shoulders drop.

"No, I'm way too tired. I just want to sleep properly and eat something. Hakuryuu, please tell me you cooked something."

His friend shot him a disbelieving look. "When should I have done that? I was busy looking for you, but I'll make you something when we're back. It's not that far to the city."

Judar didn't care, simply floating up and leaning heavily on his staff. God, he had missed this more than he had thought and with only around a day without using his magic properly. Then he scrunched up his nose. "Don't put any carrots in."

Hakuryuu just rolled his eyes.

Later though, once they were back, he really left the carrots out and Judar fell asleep with a full stomach and wrapped up in warm blankets.


End file.
